mit phd in architecture

Degree Requirements

Graduate programs.

MArch Curriculum Chart

As the first program of its kind in the United States, the professional degree program at MIT also has a particular responsibility to the future. Defined by the intersection of design and research, our professional program serves as a laboratory for all the innovation and scholarship within the department — while also serving as a laboratory for the future of architectural education itself.

In this laboratory, our students are leaders. The small size of MIT’s MArch program, with 25 students in each class, allows for unique trajectories through MIT into the profession of architecture and beyond. The program’s size also ensures that our experiments together are conducted in an atmosphere of engaged debate — with ourselves, with guests, and with the larger communities that we serve. As well as within the classroom, this culture extends through public lectures and programs within the department, the School of Architecture and Planning, and all of MIT — with students curating the most agile platforms for dialogue.

Though it feeds on everything that surrounds it, the MArch laboratory derives its energy from its key testing ground: the studio. Studio is a key site of iterative, embodied, design learning, where cultural meaning animates methods and materials with urgency. MIT’s MArch studio sequence is both surrounded by and infused with deep disciplinary and interdisciplinary thinking, sometimes in support of — and other times deliberately at odds with — studio concerns. It comprises three distinct units: (3) Core Studios, (3) Research Studios, and a Thesis Project. The collective mission of the three Core studios is to offer fundamental architectural methods to students, while opening up a series of different entries into the vocation of an architect, such that students can begin to develop their own positions and become well versed in initiating other entries and paths through the discipline. Each of the Core studios is oriented toward the contemporary conversations and the future of the discipline, which means that they are constantly updated. Though each of them delimits a different set of cultural, technical, and disciplinary issues, together they deliver approaches, attitudes, and questions  we deem essential for students establishing their own research projects and agenda.

For a large part of the population of every incoming class of MArch students, these three studios will be the first experiences in navigating uncertainty in the creative process, the exhilaration of giving form to ideas, imagining material assemblies with specific properties, and searching for the appropriate ways to align architecture’s agency with their own cultural and social ambitions: These will be experienced with increasing levels of control throughout our creative lives. Enabling a lifelong process of iteration and experimentation is the underlying ethos of all three core studios.

Following Core, the Research Studios offer an array of topics at scales that range from 1:1 experimentation in assembly to the geographic scale. They fit — though, never neatly — into several categories of inquiry: architectural, which includes design of buildings and urban life; urban, which includes design of landscape, territories, and the urban fabric; and cross studios, which focus on interdisciplinary topics and open up the possibilities for the final deliverables of the studio to take place in various media suited to the focus of their research.

Seminars and Lecture courses drill down into historical and disciplinary expertise, which contextualize, challenge, and sometimes enable studio’s instrumental thinking, while Workshops provide a platform for faster, more discrete experimentation than is normally conducted in studios. All of these are mechanisms by which faculty involve students in the deep depths of their own research.

The Thesis semester caps the MArch studio sequence. It provides to students a precious and sustained space for their own experimentation with framing the terms of engagement with the world. The size of the program becomes relevant here once again. Many forms and formats of work are possible for this self-directed project: a student could choose to see their contribution at this stage as feeding into a larger project already well under way in the department, or one of the labs currently operating, or as a more intimate dialogue with individual faculty. The buzz, the energy, and the production that take place during the MArch thesis ferment into material artifacts, processes, statements — knowledge — that probes the edges of architecture. The final Thesis presentation, set to be the last event of the semester, is when the faculty involved in the MArch program, together with students and guest critics, celebrate our students’ ideas, risks taken, decisions made in the course of their thesis projects, and all those yet to come.

Those who have not yet studied in a department of architecture and are admitted to MArch at Year 1 require 3½ academic years of residency to fulfill the degree requirements.

Faculty Advising

A faculty advisor with a design background will be assigned to each MArch student before the first term of registration. The advisor will monitor the student’s progress through completion of the degree. 

Subjects and Credit Units

The MArch is awarded upon satisfactory completion of an approved program of 282 graduate units and an acceptable 24-unit thesis for 306 total graduate credits.

Subjects required for the 3½-year program include the following:

• Six architectural design studios (3 core studios and 3 research studios)
• Geometric Disciplines and Architectural Skills I (4.105)
• One Computation restricted elective (4.117, 4.511, 4.521, or 4.567) 
• Three Building Technology subjects (4.464, 4.462, and 4.463)
• Architectural Assemblies (4.123)
• Precedents in Critical Practice (4.210)
• Professional Practice (4.222)
• Architecture from 1750 to the Present (4.645)
• One History, Theory and Criticism restricted elective (4.607, 4.612, 4.621, 4.647, 4.241, or 4.652)
• One History, Theory and Criticism elective
• One Computation/Media Lab elective (4.5xx or MAS.xxx)
• Urban Design elective (11.xxx)
• ACT elective (4.3xx)
• Three open elective subjects (or 24 total credits)
• Preparation for MArch Thesis (4.189)
• Graduate Design Thesis (4.ThG)

All elective subjects must be at least nine units.

Credit for Previous Academic Work

MArch students who have successfully completed the equivalent of one or more required architecture subjects outside MIT (or within MIT as undergraduates) may be given advanced credit for those subjects by submitting a petition for curriculum adjustment with as much relevant material as possible (including a transcript, syllabi, reading lists, problem sets, paper assignments, or portfolios). Petitions are submitted to Kateri Bertin before the first day of class and are then reviewed by the MArch Program Committee by the end of the first month of term. The Committee is composed of one faculty member from each of the four discipline groups. Depending on the subject for which MIT credit is requested, students may substitute an elective in the discipline group or substitute a free elective. All requests must be resolved by the beginning of the penultimate semester.

English Proficiency Requirement

All students whose first language is not English are required to take the English Evaluation Test (EET) prior to registration at MIT. Even students who satisfy the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement for admission may be required to take specialized subjects in English as a Second Language (ESL), depending on their EET results. These subjects do not count toward the required units but will prove helpful to students who need to develop the skills necessary to write a thesis.

Jumpstart  

MIT Architecture's Jumpstart is designed to prepare incoming MArch students for the rigors of the first design studio and to develop basic skills. The course is intended for students with little architectural studio experience but is also open to others who would benefit from introductory exposure to unfamiliar software. Jumpstart is created for our MArch student community by our MArch student community. This experience is taught through exercises that have been handed down from year to year and taught by our esteemed teaching fellows (recent graduates).

Policy on Incomplete Subjects and Thesis Semester

MArch students may have no more than one incomplete in a required subject when they register for thesis (4.THG). This incomplete can be no older than one term (received the term prior to thesis registration).

Students who have incompletes from several subjects or incompletes from earlier terms will be denied registration until those subjects are finished and graded. This policy applies to incompletes in subjects required by the degree curriculum or necessary for units toward the degree. 

Academic Audits

A chart indicating progress through the academic requirements will be maintained as part of each student’s file. The administrator of master’s degree programs will distribute this audit to students and to faculty advisors each term.

Thesis Preparation and Thesis

An MArch thesis at MIT operates as an independent thesis project, interrogating the discipline of architecture. The thesis is developed by the student and is supported by a committee of readers and an advisor. In the next-to-last term of registration (the semester prior to thesis), students enroll in Preparation for MArch Thesis (4.189). This course guides students towards declaring a thesis statement as well as forming the thesis committee. The result of this 9-unit subject is a thesis proposal.

The MArch thesis committee is composed of three members. The thesis advisor must be a permanent member of the Department of Architecture faculty with an architecture design background. The second and third members (also known as readers) may be any member of the MIT faculty or research staff, an outside professional, or a faculty member from another institution. Download the Thesis Committee Guidelines here.

Thesis co-advising is permitted as long as one of the advisors is a permanent member of the Department of Architecture faculty with an architecture design background. The other advisor may be any member of the MIT faculty or research staff, an outside professional, or a faculty member from another institution.

MArch students are required to register for 24 units of thesis (4.THG) the final term.  The thesis proposal, including a thesis proposal form signed by all the thesis committee members, is due the first week of the term in which the student registers for thesis.

The MArch Thesis Review Schedule includes deadlines for proposal review, public mid-review, penultimate review, final review, and final thesis document.

The MArch degree is awarded after all the degree requirements have been met and the approved, archival-ready thesis has been submitted to the Department of Architecture by the Institute deadline for master’s theses as published in the MIT Academic Calendar . Students must adhere to the Specifications for Thesis Preparation published by the Institute Archives.

SMACT Degree Requirements

The minimum required residency for students enrolled in the SMACT program is two academic years. SMACT students do not register for summer term.

A faculty advisor from the Art, Culture and Technology Program is assigned to each SMACT student at matriculation. The advisor will consult on the student's initial plan of study and on each subsequent term's choice of subjects. This individual should be a faculty member with whom the student is in close contact; changes in advisor may be made to make this possible. The advisor monitors the student's progress through completion of the degree.

A minimum of 135 units of graduate-level coursework is required, not including thesis. Subjects to be taken:

• 4.390 Art, Culture and Technology Studio is taken each of the four terms of enrollment in the program 
• Two ACT graduate subjects, one of which must be taken with an ACT core faculty member
• Two elective subjects that support student's area of study
• 4.387, SMACT Theory & Criticism Colloquium, taken during first term
• 4.388, SMACT Thesis Preparation, taken during second term
• 4.389 SMACT Thesis Tutorial, taken during third term
• 4.THG, Thesis (registration for thesis), taken during fourth term

Art, Culture and Technology Studio

Art, Culture and Technology Studio (4.390) is restricted to SMACT degree students and serves as the core of the curriculum. It is coordinated by an ACT faculty member and involves the participation of all faculty currently advising SMACT candidates. Students are expected to participate in all class meetings. Attendance at the ACT Lecture Series and other ACT events is expected.

SMACT Thesis

For requirements visit the ACT Website .

SMArchS degree requirement chart

The Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) is a two-year program of advanced study founded on research and inquiry in architecture as a discipline and as a practice. First established at MIT in 1979, the program is intended both for students who already have a professional degree in architecture and those interested in advanced non-professional graduate study. The degree may be pursued in one of six areas: Architectural Design, Architecture & Urbanism, Building Technology, Design & Computation, History, Theory & Criticism, and the Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture. With one of these areas as an intellectual home, students are encouraged to explore connections in their research across these areas, and beyond to other programs and departments throughout MIT. SMArchS students work closely with one or more faculty who guide them in planning their courses of studies and in directing them purposefully towards a thesis. Notable strengths of the program are its range of concentration areas of study, its curricular flexibility and cross-disciplinary research focus, as well as its high faculty-student ratio.

Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA) at MIT is a unique international graduate program designed to promote, sustain, and increase the teaching of architecture in the Islamic world. It prepares students for careers in research, design, and teaching. With strong links with the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and the Aga Khan Programs at Harvard, AKPIA concentrates on the critical study of the history and historiography of Islamic architecture; the interaction between architecture, society, and culture; strategies of urban and architectural preservation; design interventions in disaster areas and environmental and material-sensitive landscape research. The siting of AKPIA at MIT's Department of Architecture is intended to negate the polarizing dichotomy between the discipline of architecture (derived from Western architectural history and praxis) and Islamic Architecture, which is routinely relegated to area and cultural studies.

Architecture and Urbanism

Architecture and Urbanism is a special program for students interested in the development of critical urban design, as well as its history and theory. Consciously locating itself in the contemporary debate about what constitutes good city form with expansive metropolitan regions and systems of cities, the program teaches students to develop articulate and intellectually grounded positions. Students are expected to interrogate current positions within the field in order to explore critical alternatives to existing paradigms of urbanism. The assumption is that design inquiry is an intellectual act with the capacity to yield both critique and alternative possibilities.

The program aims to nurture well-versed, intellectually-robust, and historically-conscious architects who understand the relationship between architecture and urbanism, not as a question of taste and fashion, but as form, process, and associated socio-culturalwith meaning. The program emphasizes a unique combination of both design and scholarship. Our students are unique in their capacity to relate to both. The particular interests of faculty and students may vary, but the goal is always the achievement of the most advanced and effective methods of shaping the form, sustainability, and social condition of the built environment. The design, theory, and elective subjects are also formulated in support of this goal.

The first year of the program builds a student’s foundation with a required sequence of two studios and two theory courses. All incoming students participate in an introductory urban design studio in the fall, and a choice of urban design studio options in the spring. A course in urban design theory is taught in the fall and theory of city form in the spring. In the fall of second year, students take a thesis preparation course and have the option of enrolling in a third studio course. All students complete a master’s thesis. Students may tailor their work to a diverse array of interests, and are encouraged to engage intellectually with surrounding disciplines.

Architectural Design

The Design program offers both a theoretical foundation in the history and development of architectural design pedagogy and praxis and a platform for applied research into new design methodologies. To nurture independent theses related to the notion of design, the program aims to equip students with a critical understanding of different modes of creative synthetic production with particular focus on emerging modes of design activity, conceptual or technical, and on the potential for radicalizing current modes of architectural and building praxis.

The program encourages interdisciplinary engagement with other areas of specialist research within the Department and across the entire Institute, seeking to benefit from the remarkable academic and research environment of MIT. We see Design as a potentially integrative activity and support work that is collaborative or that bridges to other domains of knowledge.

The rich graduate design studios and workshops in the Architecture Department and Media Lab are open to SMArchS students, but the program intends to offer a distinctly post-graduate opportunity for individual design enquiry structured by seminars and lectures that give critical depth to such independent research work.

Building Technology

Building Technology offers students the opportunity to explore critical topics for the future of the built environment and resources. This area explores ways to use design and technology to create buildings that contribute to a more humane and environmentally responsible built world. Strategies employed toward these ends include integrated architectural design strategies, resource accounting through material flow analysis and life cycle assessment, building and urban energy modeling and simulation, human comfort analysis and control design and engineering and other technologically-informed design methods. Students interested in any of these strategies will be challenged to address topics of clear and important relevance to the future of the built environment through creative and analytically rigorous approaches.

Research areas supervised by the faculty address innovative materials and assemblies, emerging and nontraditional building materials, low-energy and passive building energy strategies, innovative analysis and modeling of historic structures and various issues of energy and material resources at the urban scale, including urban environmental sensing, the urban heat island effect and urban metabolism. Ideally, students entering into the program will be incorporated into active and ongoing research projects while pursuing their own intellectual and career agendas. These projects change regularly and individual faculty are best informed of current research position opportunities.

Students will often work alongside students from other departments, including Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Material Science and Engineering, Urban Studies and Planning and others. The only class requirement stipulated by the BT group, 4.481 Building Technology Seminar, is offered during the first semester. BT SMArchS students will be accommodated in the Building Technology student lab area and will have the opportunity to work with and share their interests with BT students in other degree programs.

These areas of study are offered with the primary intention of providing the tools and perspectives necessary for changing the nature of the built environment toward a resource-efficient future. Students of diverse educational backgrounds and interests are considered.

Design and Computation

The Computation Group inquires into the varied nature and practice of computation in architectural design, and the ways in which design meaning, intention, and knowledge are constructed through sensing, thinking, and making computationally. It focuses on the development of innovative computational tools, processes and theories, and applying these in creative, socially meaningful responses to challenging design problems.

History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art

SMArchS students in History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art will expand upon prior experience (which can be in design, theory, history, practice, or other post-undergraduate work) to explore compelling research that links historical or contemporary topics with methodological issues. Working alongside doctoral students in the program, SMArchS students will be exposed to a wide range of historical periods and theoretical approaches. It is expected that research topics will be developed in close discussion with HTC faculty, building on the required Methods seminar (taken twice) to clarify the appropriate scope and original sources required for the master's thesis. The HTC program is intensely interdisciplinary, and students are expected to enrich their core disciplines of history and theory with inquiry into other fields as appropriate for their research interests. Opportunities occasionally emerge for HTC students to become involved in editing, organizing research symposia, and preparing exhibitions; students will also be brought into discussion with colleagues from across the discipline groups in the SMArchS program.

The following information applies to SMArchS degree programs in all disciplines.

The minimum required residency for students enrolled in the SMArchS program is two full academic years, to be completed in four consecutive semesters of enrollment.

A faculty advisor from the Department of Architecture is assigned to each SMArchS student at matriculation. The advisor weighs in on the student's initial plan of study and on each subsequent term's choice of subjects. This individual should be a faculty member with whom the student is in close contact. The advisor monitors the student's progress through completion of the degree.

The SMArchS degree is awarded upon satisfactory completion of an approved program of at least 96 graduate units, and an acceptable thesis.

Students, with their advisors, construct individual programs of study focused on their particular interests. Subjects that must be taken include:

• 4.221, Architecture Studies Colloquium (1st term)
• One or two core subjects in methods from the list below depending on the student’s area of study (1st and/or 2nd semester): Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture : 4.619 Historiography of Islamic Architecture and 4.621 Orientalism and Representation Architectural Design : 4.130 Architecture Design Theory and Methodologies Architecture and Urbanism : 4.228 Contemporary Urbanism Proseminar: Theory and Representation, and 4.163J Urban Design Studio Building Technology : 4.481, Building Technology Seminar Design and Computation : 4.580, Inquiry into Computation and Design History, Theory and Criticism : 4.661, Theory and Method in the Study of Architecture and Art (HTC students are required to take this subject both fall terms of their residency)
• Six subjects within the student’s area of interest; in the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, one additional required subject is 4.612 Islamic Architecture and the Environment; in Architecture and Urbanism, two of the subjects must be 4.241J Theory of City Form and one approved option design studio
• 4.288 SMArchS Architectural Design Pre-Thesis Preparation, 4.286 SMArchS Urbanism Pre-Thesis Preparation, 4.587 SMArchS Computation Pre-Thesis Preparation, 4.686 SMArchS AKPIA Pre-Thesis Preparation, 4.688 HTC Pre-Thesis Preparation, 4.288 Preparation for SMArchS Thesis for SMArchS AD only (2nd term)
• 4.288, Preparation for SMArchS Thesis; SMArchS AD students register for 4.ThG Graduate Thesis (3rd term)
• 4.THG, Graduate Thesis (final term)

All students whose first language is not English are required to take the English Evaluation Test (EET) prior to registration at MIT. Even students who satisfy the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement for admission may be required to take specialized subjects in English as a Second Language (ESL), depending on their EET results. These subjects do not count toward the required units but will be necessary for students who need to develop the language skills suitable for a written thesis.

SMArchS students may have no more than one incomplete in a required subject when they register for thesis (4.THG). This incomplete can be no older than one term (received the term prior to thesis registration).

Students who have incompletes from several subjects or incompletes from earlier terms will be denied registration until those subjects are finished and graded. This policy applies to incompletes in subjects required by the degree curriculum or needed for units toward the degree.

SMArchS Thesis Preparation and Thesis Schedule

Thesis Preparation

Students enroll in Preparation for SMArchS Thesis (4.288) their third term of registration.

By Week 7, students finalize selecting a thesis advisor. The result of this 9-unit subject is a well-formulated thesis proposal and a department-scheduled presentation of the thesis proposal at the end of the term. By Week 14, students must submit a signed copy of the thesis proposal form and thesis proposal to the degree administrator for master's programs in the headquarters of the Department of Architecture. Once the SMArch Committee has approved the thesis proposals in consultation with the thesis advisor, students are permitted to register for thesis the following semester. Any student who is not able to produce an acceptable thesis proposal by the end of the term will be given until the end of IAP to produce a thesis proposal. If the proposal is still not acceptable, the student will be required to retake Preparation for SMArchS Thesis (4.288) their fourth term of registration.

The SMArchS thesis committee is composed of at least two and no more than three members. The thesis advisor must be permanent member of the Department of Architecture faculty. The first reader must be a permanent faculty member of the Department of Architecture or a related department at MIT. The third member (second reader) may be any member of the MIT faculty or research staff, an outside professional or a faculty member from another institution.

Co-thesis supervision is permitted as long as one of the advisors in a permanent member of the Department of Architecture faculty. The other advisor may be any member of the MIT faculty or research staff, an outside professional or a faculty member from another institution.

SMArchS students who have an approved thesis proposal are required to register for 36 units of thesis (4.THG) in their fourth and final term.

During Week 7 (before Spring Vacation), each discipline area will schedule the thesis review for its students. At the review, students will submit a draft or prototype or complete conceptual design of the thesis to his/her thesis committee, and reviewers from across the discipline areas will attend the reviews. If a student's progress is not satisfactory, the student will not be permitted to present at the final review.

During Week 11, SMArchS students will submit one copy of the thesis book to their thesis committees and meet with their thesis committees to formally defend the thesis.

NOTE: The Week 11 defense is a penultimate review. Presenting at the final review is seen as a privilege, not a right. Faculty is under no compunction to pass inadequate work. If a student's work is found wanting, s/he will not be allowed to present at the public final review. The committee may decide not to pass the thesis, or alternatively, pass it only after the student undertakes additional work to meet targets set by the committee, on a date agreed on by the latter. An extension beyond the academic year will only be granted in response to a written petition by the student concerned. The petition must be addressed to the SMArchS committee, upon which the committee will reach a decision in consultation with the thesis advisor.

By Week 14, students will submit two copies of the final approved, archival-ready thesis to the headquarters of the Department of Architecture by the Institute deadline for master's theses as published in the MIT Academic Calendar. Consult the SMArchS Degree Administrator to confirm the thesis submission deadline. Students must adhere to the Specifications for Thesis Preparation published by the Institute Archives.

The SMArchS thesis final presentations are scheduled by the Department during the last week of the term (Week 15). These presentations, also known as final reviews, are made to the Department of Architecture community, faculty, students, and invited external reviewers. A copy of each thesis book submitted during Week 14 will be available at the reviews.

The SMArchS degree is awarded after all the degree requirements have been met, and after two copies of the approved, archival-ready thesis have been submitted to the headquarters of the Department of Architecture by the Institute deadline for master's theses as published in the MIT Academic Calendar . Consult the SMArchS Degree Administrator to confirm the thesis submission deadline. Students must adhere to the Specifications for Thesis Preparation published by the Institute Archives.

SMBT Requirements form

The minimum required residency for students enrolled in the SMBT program is three terms, one of which may be a summer term. However, many take two academic years to complete all the requirements.

Each student in Building Technology is assigned a faculty advisor at matriculation. The advisor weighs in on the student's initial plan of study and on each subsequent term's choice of subjects. This individual should be a faculty member with whom the student is in close contact; changes can be made to make this possible. The advisor monitors the student's progress through completion of the degree.

A Report of Completed SMBT Requirements form is kept by the degree administrator in the headquarters of the Department of Architecture. It is the student's responsibility to work with the thesis advisor to keep this report updated and on file.

A minimum of 66 units of graduate-level coursework is required. Credit received for thesis (4.THG) registration does not count toward this minimum.

Subjects to be taken include:

• 4.481, Building Technology Seminar, taken in the fall of the first year of registration. It is expected that the thesis proposal will be a product of this subject.
• 2 subjects in a single field of specialization (major), chosen from thermal science, structures, materials, controls, lighting and systems analysis.
• 1 subject from another field of specialization (minor) in Building Technology. Other fields may also be accepted for specialization with advisor approval.
• 1 subject in applied mathematics.
• Thesis registration, 4.THG, is allowed only if the thesis proposal has been approved and the Report of Completed SMBT Requirements has been submitted.

A thesis is required for the SMBT degree. The topic is selected from a subject currently being investigated by the faculty, and research is carried out under the direct supervision of a faculty member in the program. This faculty member will be the student's advisor and must approve the thesis proposal prior to thesis registration. Thesis readers are optional.

The SMBT is awarded after two copies of the defended, approved, archival-ready thesis have been submitted to Department of Architecture headquarters by the Institute deadline for master's theses as published in the MIT Academic Calendar. Students must adhere to the Specification for Thesis Preparation published by the Institute Archives.

All students whose first language is not English are required to take the English Evaluation Test (EET) prior to registration at MIT. Even students who satisfy the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement for admission may be required to take specialized subjects in English as a Second Language (ESL), depending on their EET results. These subjects do not count toward the required units but will prove valuable in helping students develop the skills necessary to comfortably write a thesis.

PhD- Building Technology

BT/PhD Requirements

It is the student's responsibility to fill out the appropriate section of the Report of Completed BT/PhD Requirements upon completion of the requirements listed below. This document is submitted to the degree administrator and kept in the student's official departmental file. The degree administrator informs the MIT registrar when the degree requirements have been fulfilled.

Qualifying Paper

The qualifying paper, which often emerges from the Building Technology Seminar (4.481), should demonstrate the student's potential for work at a high standard of scholarship. The paper must be completed and accepted by the dissertation committee before a student can continue to the general examination. Insufficiencies in the qualifying paper may require remedial subject work on the part of the student.

Dissertation Proposal

The PhD dissertation is a major work that makes an original scholarly contribution to the field of investigation. Most BT/PhD dissertation research will be a portion of a sponsored research project. The dissertation is the main focus of the doctoral program and the primary indicator of a PhD student's ability to carry out significant independent research. The Building Technology dissertation must result in advances in the state of the art that are worthy of publication in a respected technical journal in the field.

Approval of the dissertation topic is gained through a proposal submitted to the dissertation committee no later than the end of the second term of registration. Once the proposal has been approved, the student may register for Graduate Thesis (4.THG).

Coursework: Major and Minor Fields

Coursework is selected in consultation with the faculty advisor. A normal registration load is 36 units, which would be a combination of specific subjects and research. Though the core group of subjects will be within the department, students are encouraged to take outside subjects. Building Technology Seminar (4.481) is the only specific subject required for the degree and is taken during the student's first term. Typically a student's program will include at least five graduate subjects in the major field and three in the minor field. Preparation for Building Technology PhD Thesis (4.489) is used as registration for research until the dissertation proposal has been approved. After that point, Graduate Thesis (4.THG) is used as registration for research.

General Examination

The purpose of the qualifying examination is to determine whether the student possesses the attributes of a doctoral candidate: mastery of the disciplines of importance to building technology and ingenuity and skill in identifying and solving unfamiliar problems. The examination consists of two parts. (1) A demonstration of mastery in three areas through coursework and (2) a presentation of research as explained below.

Subject Area Mastery Allowable subjects are listed in Discipline areas for the Building Technology PhD General Exam / Record of subject mastery. To pass the subject area mastery portion of the doctoral general exam, students must earn three As and one B (or four As) in at least four subjects chosen across three of the seven areas from Table 1. Substitutions of subjects not included in the table will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will require approval from all BT faculty.

Research Presentation The research presentation exam will take place over 120 minutes, and should include a 45 minute formal presentation by the doctoral student, followed by 45-60 minutes of questions and discussion with all BT faculty. The research presented should be ongoing research or recently completed research carried out in Building Technology. The presentation should put the work in context, present research findings and propose future work. It will be evaluated both for intellectual content and for clarity of communication. The discussion portion of the exam led by BT faculty may cover both the presented work specifically as well as a broader range of related topics to gauge the student's familiarity with their research content.

Logistics Examinations are offered in January (last week of IAP) and May (the week after final exams). Students must obtain permission of their advisor to take the exam. In case a student is working on a multidisciplinary research topic with a significant component falling outside the expertise of any BT faculty, an expert (ideally MIT faculty) representing the topic area should participate in the general exam. The advisor will invite this expert in consultation with the student. All students must complete the coursework and research presentation portions of the exam by the end of their fourth semester in the PhD program. Advisors of PhD students will submit to the BT faculty the proposed plan for coursework completion for each of their advisees at least three months before the research presentation. Students who do not pass may be invited to retake certain subjects or repeat the research presentation, or they may be asked to terminate their enrollment in the PhD program.

Dissertation Defense

A dissertation committee of three or more people, generally assembled in the first semester of registration, supervises research and writing of the dissertation. The student's advisor is always a member of the dissertation committee and typically serves as its chair. The chair must be a member of the Building Technology faculty. In special circumstances, one of the three members of the dissertation committee may be selected from outside the Department of Architecture. The student is responsible for arranging meetings with the committee at least once each term.

A final draft of the completed dissertation must be delivered to each committee member one month prior to the scheduled defense. The dissertation is presented orally in an open meeting of the faculty of the department; at least three faculty members must be present. After the presentation, the dissertation is either accepted or rejected.

The PhD is awarded after two copies of the defended, approved, archival-ready dissertation have been submitted to the Department of Architecture at its headquarters. The copies must be submitted by the Institute deadline for doctoral theses as published in the MIT Academic Calendar . Students must adhere to the Specifications for Thesis Preparation published by the Institute Archives.

Nonresident Research Status

Students are expected to carry out thesis research while in residence at the Institute. It is rare that a PhD candidate in BT will need to apply for nonresident status. However, should a student who has completed all requirements except for the dissertation need to continue thesis research in years beyond the awarded funding, he or she may opt to apply for nonresident research status with the permission of the dissertation advisor.

All students whose first language is not English are required to take the English Evaluation Test (EET) prior to registration at MIT. Even students who satisfy the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Test of English as a Foreign Language requirement for admission may be required to take specialized subjects in English as a Second Language (ESL), depending on their EET results. These subjects do not count toward the required degree credits but will prove valuable in helping students develop the skills necessary to comfortably write a dissertation. It is expected that required ESL subjects will be taken within the first year of the student’s program.

PhD- Design and Computation

Computation/PhD Requirements

It is the student's responsibility to fill out the appropriate section of the Report of Completed Computation/PhD Requirements upon completion of the requirements listed below. This document is submitted to the degree administrator and kept in the student's official departmental file. The degree administrator informs the MIT registrar that the degree requirements have been fulfilled.

Subject Work

PhD Students are expected to complete at 144 units of subject work while in residency at MIT. This is usually accomplished over two years by enrolling in an average of 36 units per term, which equals three or four subjects per term. In those special cases where the student is awarded advanced standing at admission, the unit requirement is lowered accordingly. The only specific subject requirement is 4.581 Proseminar in Computation. All other subjects are selected in consultation with the faculty advisor and may be taken both in and out of the Department of Architecture. Registration in 4.THG, Graduate Thesis, does not count toward the 144-unit requirement.

PhD students in Computation are expected to enroll in 4.581, Proseminar in Computation, during their first year in residence. The Proseminar is meant to provide a rigorous grounding in the field with a focus on specific research topics related to architecture and design practice.

Major and Minor Fields

Major and minor fields must be approved by the student's advisory committee, which is selected with the assistance of the advisor in the first year of enrollment. Normally, the minor field requirement will be satisfied by outstanding performance in three related subjects (not less than 27 units). The major field requirement is satisfied upon successful completion of the general examination.

The general examination is given after required subject work is completed and is taken no later than the third year of residency. The general examination is meant to show broad and detailed competence in the student's major field of concentration and supporting areas of study. The content and format of the general examination are decided by the student's advisory committee in consultation with the student. The committee evaluates the examination upon completion and may 1) accept the examination, 2) ask for further evidence of competence, or 3) determine that the examination has not been passed. In the event that the general examination is not passed, the committee may allow the student to repeat the examination or may recommend that the student withdraw from the PhD program.

The PhD dissertation is a major work that makes an original scholarly contribution. It is the main focus of the doctoral program in Design and Computation, and it serves as the primary indicator of a PhD student's ability to carry out significant independent research.

The dissertation committee comprises a minimum of three members — one thesis advisor, who also serves as the dissertation committee chair, and two readers. The chair must be a permanent member of the Computation faculty and the student's advisor. The first reader must be a permanent faculty member of MIT. The second reader may come from Computation or may be a faculty member appointed from outside the department or the Institute. Students may add more members in consultation with their advisor. The student is responsible for arranging meetings with the committee members on a regular basis.

Formal approval of the dissertation topic is gained through a proposal, which the student submits and defends to his or her dissertation committee prior to the completion of the sixth semester of registration. The proposal should contain these elements:

• General statement of scope of the thesis
• Significance of the thesis
• Survey of existing research and literature with critical comments and an assessment of the extent to which this material will be utilized
• Method of the thesis work
• Outline or brief sketch of the thesis
• Working bibliography
• Resources for primary material
• Plan of work, including a timetable

An oral examination in which the candidate meets with the dissertation committee to discuss the proposal marks the formal acceptance of the topic. The result of the defense can be that the thesis proposal is accepted, accepted with revisions or rejected.

Students will often register for Preparation for Computation PhD Thesis (4.589) in the term leading up to their proposal defense. Once the proposal has been approved, the student may register for 4.THG, Graduate Thesis. The student may be asked to present his or her dissertation proposal in the class Research Seminar in Computation (4.582).

Students are advised to meet with committee members to obtain comments and guidance throughout the writing phase of the project. Regular contact with committee members during the process of drafting the thesis can ensure a student's readiness for thesis defense. The final draft should be submitted to committee members at least one month prior to the defense. The defense should be scheduled at least two weeks prior to the published Institute PhD thesis deadline.

The dissertation is defended by oral presentation in front of the dissertation committee. At least three faculty members must be present. If a member of the committee is not able to attend, he or she must contact the committee chair with comments and questions. That member must also inform the committee chair of a vote.

The result of the defense can be that the thesis is accepted, accepted with revisions or rejected. If the thesis is accepted with revisions, the student makes the necessary changes to the document and submits them within an agreed time frame to all or some of the committee members. If rejected, the student must re-defend according to a timetable agreed upon at the defense.

Students are expected to carry out thesis research while in residence at MIT. It is rare that a PhD candidate in Design and Computation will need to apply for nonresident status. However, should a student who has completed all requirements except for the dissertation need to continue thesis research in years beyond the awarded funding, he or she may opt to apply for nonresident research status with the permission of the dissertation advisor.

All students whose first language is not English are required to take the English Evaluation Test (EET) prior to registration at MIT. Even students who satisfy the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement for admission may be required to take specialized subjects in English as a Second Language (ESL), depending on their EET results. These subjects do not count toward the required degree credits but will prove valuable in helping students develop the skills necessary to write a dissertation.

PhD- History, Theory and Criticism

PhD students complete 204 units (not including registration in 4.THG) during their residency at MIT. This is usually accomplished over the first three years of residency by enrolling in an average of 36 units per term, the equivalent of three subjects. The breakdown of required subjects is as follows:

• 4.661, Methods Seminar, is taken each fall term for first two years—2 x 12 = 24 units
• Nine subjects completed by the end of the second year: lecture, seminar and/or independent study—9 x 12 = 108 units
• 4.683, Preparation for HTC Qualifying Paper = 15 units; taken in the 4th or 5th semester
• 4.684 Preparation for HTC Major Exam = 27 units; taken in the 5th semester
• 4.685 Preparation for HTC Minor Exam = 15 units; taken in the 6th semester
• 4.689 Preparation for HTC PhD Thesis = 15 units; taken in the 6th semester

Independent study subjects may be taken with advisor approval after the first year of residency. No more than one independent study project may be taken per term, and no more than 12 units may be devoted to any one research project. Registration for an independent study project requires completion of a departmental Independent Study Project form, this constitutes a contract for the deadlines and deliverables for the subject and the definition of supervisory involvement.

Advancement to Candidacy:

A student is advanced to doctoral candidacy on completion of the following “hurdles,” which should be completed by the end of the third year of studies:

• Qualifying paper—register for 4.683 (15 credit units)
• General exam: major field—register for 4.684 (27 credit units)
• General exam: minor field—register for 4.685 (15 credit units)
• Language requirement
• Dissertation proposal—register for 4.689 (15 credit units)

Students are responsible for planning their hurdles in consultation with their advisor in a timely manner, in order to complete the planner for HTC degree requirements available from the HTC office (Room 3-305). The planner must be submitted in the fall of the second year, with updates submitted as needed. The sequence of hurdles completion can be determined by the student in consultation with his/her advisor. All pre-thesis requirements* must be completed and approved by the first week of the fourth year. Failure to complete pre-thesis requirements by the end of the third year (term 7) may result in the suspension of funding. [* “Pre-thesis” includes the dissertation proposal. When that document is completed and filed, assuming all other hurdles are completed, then the student may enroll in “Thesis,” 4.THG.]

Additional paperwork must be submitted to confirm completion of each of the above hurdles; this paperwork is signed by the student’s advisor and by the Director of HTC. The HTC faculty meet at the end of each Spring semester to review student progress in general and advance students to the status of candidacy (also known as “ABD”). Once approved, copies of the internal HTC documents are submitted to the Department of Architecture degree administrator and filed in the student's official departmental file. The degree administrator communicates with the Registrar when degree requirements have been fulfilled, and allows the Institute to certify candidacy.

It is strongly recommended that work on the QP be completed within one month. The paper must be the result of a seminar or directed research conducted during the student's HTC study at MIT and may not be part of thesis research. The instructor for the class administers the paper, but if this faculty member is outside HTC, the paper should also be read by a member of the HTC faculty to administer the grade. The core criterion for the paper is that it should be ready for publication in a scholarly journal. Since this requirement should be completed before the general exams, the paper topic should be discussed with the advisor no later than the third semester. Register for 15 credit units of 4.683 the term in which the qualifying paper is submitted.

General Examination: Major and Minor Fields

The fields of examination are set by mutual agreement between the student and their advisor. The purpose is to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the student's critical awareness of the discipline in which he or she works. Most universities, research institutions and other potential employers require assurance that a graduate has areas of competency beyond his or her specialization.

It is strongly recommended that work on the minor exam be completed in three months. The minor exam may cover a different time period from the major exam, or it may have a theoretical focus that complements the historical focus of the major exam, or it may cover in depth a topic within the broader field covered in the major exam. The minor exam may be a three-hour written test, or it may consist of preparing materials for a subject: specifically, a detailed syllabus, a bibliography, an introductory lecture and at least one other lecture. Register for 15 credit units of 4.685 the term in which the minor is completed.

It is strongly recommended that work on the major exam be completed in three months. The major exam is a three-hour written test covering a historically broad area of interest that includes components of history, historiography and theory. Preparation for the exam will focus on four or five themes agreed upon in advance. Register for 27 credit units of 4.684 the term in which the major is completed.

Although it is possible for one professor to give both exams, such an arrangement limits the student's exposure to the faculty. With approval, a faculty member outside HTC may administer the exam. In this case, an HTC faculty member must also read the exam.

Topics and examiners should be finalized no later than the fourth semester. One exam can be taken as early as the end of the fourth semester.

Language Requirement

It is recommended that students complete their language requirement by the end of the fourth term. Because of the foundational role French and German have played in the discipline of art and architectural history, successful study or testing in these two languages constitutes the usual fulfillment of this requirement. For students working on topics for which there is another primary language, a substitution may be approved by the student’s advisor. The MIT Global Studies and Languages department administers graduate language examinations.

The language exam can only be waived under the following circumstances:

• The student is a native speaker of the language needed
• Two years of university courses (two years minimum) have been completed for a language not administered by the language department, and a “B” or better average grade was maintained

Credits accumulated from language subjects taken to fulfill this requirement cannot be used toward the 204 credits of coursework required for the degree.

A dissertation advisor should be selected by the end of the fourth semester. During the fifth semester, the Thesis Topic Workshop will be held for the student to present the broad outlines of a topic, to identify relevant archives, and to review methodologies. It is estimated that the writing and revising of the proposal should take no more than four months.

Immediately following the Thesis Topic Workshop in the fifth semester, an appropriate dissertation committee should be proposed by the student and approved in principle by the advisor. (The committee may be changed with the approval of the advisor up to the eighth semester.) The dissertation committee comprises a minimum of three members; two must be MIT Department of Architecture faculty members, and the chair must be a member of the HTC faculty (and the student's main advisor). The third member may come from HTC or may be appointed from outside the department or outside the Institute. Students may add additional members in consultation with their advisor.

The dissertation proposal should be drafted and defended by the end of the sixth semester. Formal approval of the dissertation topic is gained through a proposal, which the student submits and defends to his or her dissertation committee prior to the end of the sixth semester of registration. The student is strongly advised to have an informal meeting of the committee some weeks prior to the formal defense, to reach a consensus that the thesis topic is of the right scale and the prospectus itself is ready to be defended. Register for 15 credit units of 4.689 the term in which the dissertation proposal is submitted.

A dissertation proposal (also called a prospectus) should contain these elements:

• General thesis statement
• Scope, significance or “stakes” of the thesis
• Outline or brief sketch of the dissertation, e.g. summaries of proposed chapters
• Archives and proof of access; IRB approval if required

The formal defense of the prospectus consists of an oral examination in which the candidate meets with the dissertation committee; the committee decides whether the prospectus is approved as is, requires further revision, or does not pass the defense.

When the appropriate paperwork is filed with the HTC administrator in acknowledgment of successful completion of this exam, the dissertation topic and proposal are considered approved. The student is passed to candidacy. Once the proposal has been approved, the student may register for 4.THG, Graduate Thesis.

Regular contact with committee members during the process of drafting the thesis can ensure a student's readiness for the final thesis defense. Students are advised to meet with committee members to obtain comments and guidance throughout the writing phase of the project. The final draft should be submitted to committee members no later than one month prior to the defense. The defense cannot be scheduled any later than two weeks prior to the published Institute PhD thesis deadline.

The dissertation is defended in the presence of the full dissertation committee. If a member of the committee is not able to attend or participate by virtual means (speakerphone, video call), he or she must contact the committee chair with comments and questions. That member must also inform the committee chair of a vote.

The result of the defense can be that the thesis is accepted, accepted with revisions or rejected. If the thesis is accepted with revisions, the student makes the necessary changes to the document and submits them within an agreed time frame to all or some of the committee members, as determined at the defense. If rejected, the student must re-defend according to a timetable agreed upon at the defense. Students are strongly advised to set a defense date three months before the Institute’s deadlines to allow for revisions and avoid compressing the time given to the committee to read the dissertation.

The PhD is awarded after two copies of the defended, approved, archival-ready dissertation have been submitted to the Department of Architecture at its headquarters. The copies must be submitted by the Institute deadline for doctoral theses as published in the MIT Academic Calendar. Students must adhere to the Specifications for Thesis Preparation published by the Institute Archives.

Thesis Research in Absentia

Acceptance into the program is granted with the presumption that students will remain in residence at the Institute while completing the degree. However, on occasion, work away from the Institute may be essential for such tasks as gathering data. Students who have completed all requirements except for the dissertation may therefore apply to take one or two semesters in absentia. A proposal for thesis in absentia , which outlines work to be accomplished, should be delivered to the director of HTC no later than the drop date of the semester prior to the one in which the student plans to be away. (The student should consult with the Academic Administrator in Headquarters as well as HTC staff for a review of the financial and academic implications of TIA status.) Both the HTC faculty, the Department, and the dean of the graduate school must grant approval. Students must return to regular registration status for the final term in which the dissertation is to be submitted to the Institute. However, the dissertation draft may be submitted to the student’s primary advisor and committee members at any time during the TIA period. Similarly, the defense can also be scheduled at any time (as long as the committee has at least 4 weeks to read the full and final draft). Regular registration status is required only in order to file the archival copy and apply for the degree.

Students are expected to carry out thesis research while in residence at the Institute. However, should a student who has completed all requirements except for the dissertation need to continue thesis research in years beyond the awarded funding, he or she may opt to apply for nonresident research status with the permission of the dissertation advisor (the student should consult with the Academic Administrator in Headquarters as well as HTC staff for a review of the financial and academic implications of non-resident status).

Architecture

77 Massachusetts Avenue Building 7-337 Cambridge MA, 02139

617-715-4490 [email protected]

Website: Architecture

Application Opens: September 15

Deadline: January 7 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time

Fee: $75.00

Terms of Enrollment

Fall Term (September)

Standardized Tests

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

• The GRE is not required for any Architecture program

International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

• Minimum score required: 7
• Electronic scores send to: MIT Graduate Admissions

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)

• Minimum score required: 110 (iBT) 637 (PBT) for PhD program in History, Theory, and Criticism
• Minimum score required: 100 (iBT) 600 (PBT) for all other programs
• Institute code: 3514
• Department code: 12

The IELTS exam is preferred over the TOEFL. Waivers are not offered.

Areas of Research

• Architectural Design
• Architecture and Urbanism
• Art, Culture and Technology
• Building Technology
• Design and Computation
• History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture
• History, Theory, and Criticism of Art
• Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

Financial Support

The Department wants to make it possible for all of our students to graduate with a debt no larger than they can reasonably expect to repay while working in their profession.

Financial aid from the Department is in the form of direct tuition awards and Departmental employment. Financial aid awards to Master’s degree students are in the form of a partial tuition award. Master’s degree students are also eligible to compete for work opportunities in the form of Teaching or Research Assistantships or hourly positions.

Application Requirements

• Online application
• Statement of objectives
• Transcripts
• English proficiency exam scores
• Portfolio or Writing Sample, as appropriate

Required for MArch, SMBT, and PhD in Building Technology or History, Theory, and Criticism applicants:

Special Instructions

Applicants should not send any supplemental material with their applications.

A scanned PDF of an original transcript (or English translation) from each university should be uploaded in the application. Only those applicants who are accepted for admission will be required to send a hard copy of an official, sealed transcript (with English translation) from each school attended. Any discrepancy between the scanned transcripts and official transcripts may result in a rejection or withdrawal of our admission offer.

Some degree programs require a portfolio of design work and/or writing sample (maximum 30 pages). Applicants should follow instructions detailed on the Architecture website under the degree program of their interest.

This site uses cookies to give you the best possible experience. By browsing our website, you agree to our use of cookies.

If you require further information, please visit the Privacy Policy page.

AKPIA@MIT Website

Academic programs, students and alumni, current lectures, lectures on youtube, post-doctoral fellows, publications, aga khan program for islamic architecture.

View of the demolished Tomb of the Unknown Soldier , Baghdad, 1959

Amir Khayrbak Funerary Complex , Cairo, 1502

The Flying Carpet airplane, aloft over Samarra, Iraq, north of Baghdad, 1931

Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan , Cairo, 1363

Diana Rooney AKPIA Discipline Group Assistant [email protected]

Established in 1979 through an endowment from His Highness the Aga Khan, the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA) at MIT is a leading international graduate program designed to promote, sustain, and increase the study and teaching of architecture in the Islamic world. It prepares students for careers in research, design, and education. AKPIA@MIT concentrates on the critical study of the history and historiography of Islamic architecture and urbanism; urgent issues facing cities and landscapes in the contemporary Islamic world; heritage issues; the problems of mass urbanization, informal settlement, migration and forced displacement in the global context ; and the quality and conditions of civic space . The siting of AKPIA in MIT's Department of Architecture is intended to challenge the polarizing dichotomy between the discipline of architecture and Islamic Architecture as a field of research and study.  The program has strong links with the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, at MIT, the Aga Khan Programs at Harvard, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

See the  AKPIA@MIT website  for extended current and historical information about the Aga Khan Program at MIT. 

AKPIA offers an advanced SMArchS degree for students specializing in the architecture and urbanism of the Islamic world, and a PhD degree within the framework of the History, Theory & Criticism program with a focus on the history, theory, and criticism of Islamic architecture or urbanism. Undergraduates may concentrate in Middle Eastern Studies using subjects offered by AKPIA. Program funds are offered to graduate students admitted to both SMArchS and PhD AKPIA programs. However, since funds are very limited, no student should expect full support. Currents students and alumni can be found on the AKPIA website .

See  Graduate Programs  for degree requirements.

PhD in History and Theory of Architecture or History and Theory of Art

HTC offers two tracks of study within the PhD program: History and Theory of Architecture and the History and Theory of Art. Degree requirements and admissions procedures for both tracks are the same.

The program in History, Theory and Criticism (HTC) draws from the unique range of disciplines and professions within the Department of Architecture. The program emphasizes the study of art, architecture, and urbanism, past and present, produced in a broad range of geographic areas, as well as methodological issues that inform or link the history of ideas and practices. HTC was founded in 1975 as one of the first PhD programs of its kind in a school of architecture. Its mission is to promote critical and theoretical reflection within the disciplines of architectural and art history. HTC differs from other architectural programs in that it has art historians on its permanent faculty. Visiting scholars are annually invited to teach, supplementing the core faculty.

Continuous registration is required until completion of the dissertation. Generally all subject/course work is completed by the end of the second year of residency and all other requirements, except for the dissertation, are completed by the end of the third year. The final two years are devoted to dissertation research and writing culminating in a defense at the conclusion of the fifth year.

Islamic Architecture and Urbanism Concentration

Within the History and Theory of Architecture or Art PhD, there is a concentration in Islamic Architecture, urbanism, and Art. The History, Theory and Criticism Section at MIT was the first Ph.D program of its kind in the nation. Its mission is to encourage advanced historical research and to promote critical and theoretical reflection within the disciplines of architectural and art history. The concentration on Islamic architecture and urbanism is an integral part of the HTC section. One student each year is admitted to work on an Islamic subject and funded through the Aga Khan Program endowment.

Research projects vary in scope, method, and range from the classical period to the present. Recent Ph.D. topics can be found on the HTC Dissertation and Theses section of this website.

Faculty Advising

Each student is assigned an HTC faculty advisor upon admission. Generally it is the same faculty member designated to supervise research, and students are encouraged to work with HTC faculty members as a whole. The advisor will consult on the initial plan of study and on each subsequent term's selection of subjects. The advisor monitors the student's progress throughout each phase of the degree and will assist the student in selecting a dissertation committee. Students generally select their dissertation advisor by the end of the fourth semester.

Master of Science in Architecture Studies

The Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) is a two-year program of advanced study founded on research and inquiry in architecture as a discipline and as a practice. The program is intended both for students who already have a professional degree in architecture and those interested in advanced non-professional graduate study.

Within the HTC discipline, there are two areas of study for SMArchS students: - History Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art - Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

SMArchS in Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA) at MIT is a leading international graduate program designed to promote, sustain, and increase the study and teaching of architecture in the Islamic world. It prepares students for careers in research, design, and education. AKPIA@MIT concentrates on the critical study of the history and historiography of Islamic architecture and urbanism; urgent issues facing cities and landscapes in the contemporary Islamic world; heritage issues; the problems of mass urbanization, informal settlement, migration and forced displacement in the global context ; and the quality and conditions of civic space . The siting of AKPIA in MIT's Department of Architecture is intended to challenge the polarizing dichotomy between the discipline of architecture and Islamic Architecture as a field of research and study.

Nasser Rabbat

Azra Akšamija

James Wescoat

Please see the Faculty page on the AKPIA@MIT website for further in information.

Our current graduate students ( SMArchS and PhD ) can be found  here .  The AKPIA@MIT alumni list  showcases the varied work and research of our former students and it includes thesis abstracts and available bios.

See here for current events hosted by AKPIA@MIT or in the events tab of this site

Every semester the Aga Khan Program hosts a Lecture Series  with scholarly speakers that have achieved regional to international recognition. The program also hosts Conferences, usually during the Spring Semester.

For a history of AKPIA@MIT's past lectures, conferences and other events please see here . 

Akpia talks series in the akpia @ mit youtube channel.

Raya Ani SMArchS '94 Named to Forbes 50 Over 50

Courtney Lesoon and Elizabeth Yarina win Fulbright-Hays Scholarships

Explore Imprint 02

More AKPIA@MIT community news here.

AKPIA@MIT has a fellowship program intended for scholars with a Ph.D. in any field related to architecture.  Fellows are expected to engage in research, give at least one public lecture, submit an article at the end of their fellowship, and participate scholarly and academic activities during their stay at MIT.   

A history of past postdoctoral fellows and their topic of research while in AKPIA residence can be found here .

• 2018 (Hamad bin Khalifa University Press) The Architecture of the Dead City: Toward a New Reading of Syrian History Nasser O. Rabbat
• 2010 (Ashgate) The Courtyard House: From Cultural Reference to Universal Relevance Edited by Nasser O. Rabbat
• 1996 (E. J. Brill) The Citadel of Cairo: A New Interpretation of Mamluk Architecture Nasser O. Rabbat
• 2015 (Cambridge University Press) The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture Edited by Dwight Reynolds
• 2014 (Ulrich Haarmann Memorial Lecture) Staging the City: The Urban Character of Mamluk Architecture Nasser O. Rabbat

See here for all AKPIA related publications.

The Aga Khan Documentation Center of the MIT Libraries (AKDC@MIT) is a research center focused on the built environment of Muslim societies, broadly defined. AKDC@MIT supports teaching of and scholarship on the history and theory of architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation. With particular focus on the research and teaching activities of the faculty, students, and post-doctoral fellows of the  Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA) at MIT and Harvard . 

Archnet, developed by the  Aga Khan Trust for Culture  and the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, is an open-access resource focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation issues, with a particular focus on Muslim societies. Archnet presents visual and material culture within historic, cultural, and geographic contexts, and contains over 120,000 images, publications, video, and pedagogical tools.

Landscape + Urbanism at MIT

Smart. Open. Grounded. Inventive. Read our Ideas Made to Matter.

Which program is right for you?

Through intellectual rigor and experiential learning, this full-time, two-year MBA program develops leaders who make a difference in the world.

A rigorous, hands-on program that prepares adaptive problem solvers for premier finance careers.

A 12-month program focused on applying the tools of modern data science, optimization and machine learning to solve real-world business problems.

Earn your MBA and SM in engineering with this transformative two-year program.

Combine an international MBA with a deep dive into management science. A special opportunity for partner and affiliate schools only.

A doctoral program that produces outstanding scholars who are leading in their fields of research.

Bring a business perspective to your technical and quantitative expertise with a bachelor’s degree in management, business analytics, or finance.

A joint program for mid-career professionals that integrates engineering and systems thinking. Earn your master’s degree in engineering and management.

An interdisciplinary program that combines engineering, management, and design, leading to a master’s degree in engineering and management.

Executive Programs

A full-time MBA program for mid-career leaders eager to dedicate one year of discovery for a lifetime of impact.

This 20-month MBA program equips experienced executives to enhance their impact on their organizations and the world.

Non-degree programs for senior executives and high-potential managers.

A non-degree, customizable program for mid-career professionals.

PhD Program

Program overview.

Now Reading 1 of 4

Rigorous, discipline-based research is the hallmark of the MIT Sloan PhD Program. The program is committed to educating scholars who will lead in their fields of research—those with outstanding intellectual skills who will carry forward productive research on the complex organizational, financial, and technological issues that characterize an increasingly competitive and challenging business world.

Start here.

Learn more about the program, how to apply, and find answers to common questions.

Admissions Events

Check out our event schedule, and learn when you can chat with us in person or online.

Start Your Application

Visit this section to find important admissions deadlines, along with a link to our application.

Click here for answers to many of the most frequently asked questions.

PhD studies at MIT Sloan are intense and individual in nature, demanding a great deal of time, initiative, and discipline from every candidate. But the rewards of such rigor are tremendous:  MIT Sloan PhD graduates go on to teach and conduct research at the world's most prestigious universities.

PhD Program curriculum at MIT Sloan is organized under the following three academic areas: Behavior & Policy Sciences; Economics, Finance & Accounting; and Management Science. Our nine research groups correspond with one of the academic areas, as noted below.

MIT Sloan PhD Research Groups

Behavioral & policy sciences.

Economic Sociology

Institute for Work & Employment Research

Organization Studies

Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Strategic Management

Economics, Finance & Accounting

Accounting  

Management Science

Information Technology

System Dynamics  

Those interested in a PhD in Operations Research should visit the Operations Research Center .  

PhD Program Structure

Additional information including coursework and thesis requirements.

MIT Sloan Predoctoral Opportunities

MIT Sloan is eager to provide a diverse group of talented students with early-career exposure to research techniques as well as support in considering research career paths.

Rising Scholars Conference

The fourth annual Rising Scholars Conference on October 25 and 26 gathers diverse PhD students from across the country to present their research.

Now Reading 2 of 4

The goal of the MIT Sloan PhD Program's admissions process is to select a small number of people who are most likely to successfully complete our rigorous and demanding program and then thrive in academic research careers. The admission selection process is highly competitive; we aim for a class size of nineteen students, admitted from a pool of hundreds of applicants.

What We Seek

• Outstanding intellectual ability
• Excellent academic records
• Previous work in disciplines related to the intended area of concentration
• Strong commitment to a career in research

MIT Sloan PhD Program Admissions Requirements Common Questions

Dates and Deadlines

Admissions for 2024 is closed. The next opportunity to apply will be for 2025 admission. The 2025 application will open in September 2024. 

More information on program requirements and application components

Students in good academic standing in our program receive a funding package that includes tuition, medical insurance, and a fellowship stipend and/or TA/RA salary. We also provide a new laptop computer and a conference travel/research budget.

Funding Information

Throughout the year, we organize events that give you a chance to learn more about the program and determine if a PhD in Management is right for you.

PhD Program Events

May phd program overview.

During this webinar, you will hear from the PhD Program team and have the chance to ask questions about the application and admissions process.

June PhD Program Overview

July phd program overview, august phd program overview.

Complete PhD Admissions Event Calendar

Unlike formulaic approaches to training scholars, the PhD Program at MIT Sloan allows students to choose their own adventure and develop a unique scholarly identity. This can be daunting, but students are given a wide range of support along the way - most notably having access to world class faculty and coursework both at MIT and in the broader academic community around Boston.

Now Reading 3 of 4

Profiles of our current students

MIT Sloan produces top-notch PhDs in management. Immersed in MIT Sloan's distinctive culture, upcoming graduates are poised to innovate in management research and education.

Academic Job Market

Doctoral candidates on the current academic market

Academic Placements

Graduates of the MIT Sloan PhD Program are researching and teaching at top schools around the world.

view recent placements 

MIT Sloan Experience

Now Reading 4 of 4

The PhD Program is integral to the research of MIT Sloan's world-class faculty. With a reputation as risk-takers who are unafraid to embrace the unconventional, they are engaged in exciting disciplinary and interdisciplinary research that often includes PhD students as key team members.

Research centers across MIT Sloan and MIT provide a rich setting for collaboration and exploration. In addition to exposure to the faculty, PhD students also learn from one another in a creative, supportive research community.

Throughout MIT Sloan's history, our professors have devised theories and fields of study that have had a profound impact on management theory and practice.

From Douglas McGregor's Theory X/Theory Y distinction to Nobel-recognized breakthroughs in finance by Franco Modigliani and in option pricing by Robert Merton and Myron Scholes, MIT Sloan's faculty have been unmatched innovators.

This legacy of innovative thinking and dedication to research impacts every faculty member and filters down to the students who work beside them.

Faculty Links

• Accounting Faculty
• Economic Sociology Faculty
• Finance Faculty
• Information Technology Faculty
• Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER) Faculty
• Marketing Faculty
• Organization Studies Faculty
• System Dynamics Faculty
• Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management (TIES) Faculty

Student Research

“MIT Sloan PhD training is a transformative experience. The heart of the process is the student’s transition from being a consumer of knowledge to being a producer of knowledge. This involves learning to ask precise, tractable questions and addressing them with creativity and rigor. Hard work is required, but the reward is the incomparable exhilaration one feels from having solved a puzzle that had bedeviled the sharpest minds in the world!” -Ezra Zuckerman Sivan Alvin J. Siteman (1948) Professor of Entrepreneurship

Sample Dissertation Abstracts - These sample Dissertation Abstracts provide examples of the work that our students have chosen to study while in the MIT Sloan PhD Program.

We believe that our doctoral program is the heart of MIT Sloan's research community and that it develops some of the best management researchers in the world. At our annual Doctoral Research Forum, we celebrate the great research that our doctoral students do, and the research community that supports that development process.

The videos of their presentations below showcase the work of our students and will give you insight into the topics they choose to research in the program.

How Should We Measure the Digital Economy?

2020 PhD Doctoral Research Forum Winner - Avinash Collis

Watch more MIT Sloan PhD Program  Doctoral Forum Videos

• [email protected]

Keep Exploring

Ask a question or register your interest

Faculty Directory

Meet our faculty.

• Skip to Content
• Bulletin Home

• Schools >
• School of Architecture and Planning >
• Urban Studies and Planning
• Around Campus
• Academic Program
• Administration
• Arts at MIT
• Campus Media
• Fraternities, Sororities, and Independent Living Groups
• Medical Services
• Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center
• Religious Organizations
• Student Government
• Work/​Life and Family Resources
• Advising and Support
• Digital Learning
• Disability and Access Services
• Information Systems and Technology
• Student Financial Services
• Writing and Communication Center
• Major Course of Study
• General Institute Requirements
• Independent Activites Period
• Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
• First-​Year Advising Seminars
• Interphase EDGE/​x
• Edgerton Center
• Grading Options
• Study at Other Universities
• Internships Abroad
• Career Advising and Professional Development
• Teacher Licensure and Education
• ROTC Programs
• Financial Aid
• Medical Requirements
• Graduate Study at MIT
• General Degree Requirements
• Other Institutions
• Registration
• Term Regulations and Examination Policies
• Academic Performance and Grades
• Policies and Procedures
• Privacy of Student Records
• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
• Art, Culture, and Technology Program
• Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
• Center for Archaeological Materials
• Center for Bits and Atoms
• Center for Clinical and Translational Research
• Center for Collective Intelligence
• Center for Computational Science and Engineering
• Center for Constructive Communication
• Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
• Center for Environmental Health Sciences
• Center for Global Change Science
• Center for International Studies
• Center for Real Estate
• Center for Transportation &​ Logistics
• Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
• Concrete Sustainability Hub
• D-​Lab
• Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation
• Division of Comparative Medicine
• Haystack Observatory
• Initiative on the Digital Economy
• Institute for Medical Engineering and Science
• Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies
• Institute for Work and Employment Research
• Internet Policy Research Initiative
• Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
• Knight Science Journalism Program
• Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
• Laboratory for Financial Engineering
• Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems
• Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity
• Laboratory for Nuclear Science
• Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship
• Lincoln Laboratory
• Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
• Materials Research Laboratory
• McGovern Institute for Brain Research
• Microsystems Technology Laboratories
• MIT Center for Art, Science &​ Technology
• MIT Energy Initiative
• MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
• MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
• MIT Media Lab
• MIT Office of Innovation
• MIT Open Learning
• MIT Portugal Program
• MIT Professional Education
• MIT Sea Grant College Program
• Nuclear Reactor Laboratory
• Operations Research Center
• Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
• Plasma Science and Fusion Center
• Research Laboratory of Electronics
• Simons Center for the Social Brain
• Singapore-​MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Centre
• Sociotechnical Systems Research Center
• Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
• Women's and Gender Studies Program
• Architecture (Course 4)
• Art and Design (Course 4-​B)
• Art, Culture, and Technology (SM)
• Media Arts and Sciences
• Planning (Course 11)
• Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science (Course 11-​6)
• Aerospace Engineering (Course 16)
• Engineering (Course 16-​ENG)
• Biological Engineering (Course 20)
• Chemical Engineering (Course 10)
• Chemical-​Biological Engineering (Course 10-​B)
• Chemical Engineering (Course 10-​C)
• Engineering (Course 10-​ENG)
• Engineering (Course 1-​ENG)
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Course 6-​2)
• Electrical Science and Engineering (Course 6-​1)
• Computation and Cognition (Course 6-​9)
• Computer Science and Engineering (Course 6-​3)
• Computer Science and Molecular Biology (Course 6-​7)
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (MEng)
• Computer Science and Molecular Biology (MEng)
• Health Sciences and Technology
• Archaeology and Materials (Course 3-​C)
• Materials Science and Engineering (Course 3)
• Materials Science and Engineering (Course 3-​A)
• Materials Science and Engineering (PhD)
• Mechanical Engineering (Course 2)
• Mechanical and Ocean Engineering (Course 2-​OE)
• Engineering (Course 2-​A)
• Nuclear Science and Engineering (Course 22)
• Engineering (Course 22-​ENG)
• Anthropology (Course 21A)
• Comparative Media Studies (CMS)
• Writing (Course 21W)
• Economics (Course 14-​1)
• Mathematical Economics (Course 14-​2)
• Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (MASc)
• Economics (PhD)
• Global Studies and Languages (Course 21G)
• History (Course 21H)
• Linguistics and Philosophy (Course 24-​2)
• Philosophy (Course 24-​1)
• Linguistics (SM)
• Literature (Course 21L)
• Music (Course 21M-​1)
• Theater Arts (Course 21M-​2)
• Political Science (Course 17)
• Science, Technology, and Society/​Second Major (STS)
• Business Analytics (Course 15-​2)
• Finance (Course 15-​3)
• Management (Course 15-​1)
• Biology (Course 7)
• Chemistry and Biology (Course 5-​7)
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Course 9)
• Chemistry (Course 5)
• Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (Course 12)
• Mathematics (Course 18)
• Mathematics with Computer Science (Course 18-​C)
• Physics (Course 8)
• Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
• Chemistry and Biology
• Climate System Science and Engineering
• Computation and Cognition
• Computer Science and Molecular Biology
• Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science
• Humanities and Engineering
• Humanities and Science
• Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science
• African and African Diaspora Studies
• American Studies
• Ancient and Medieval Studies
• Applied International Studies
• Asian and Asian Diaspora Studies
• Biomedical Engineering
• Energy Studies
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Environment and Sustainability
• Latin American and Latino/​a Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Polymers and Soft Matter
• Public Policy
• Russian and Eurasian Studies
• Statistics and Data Science
• Women's and Gender Studies
• Advanced Urbanism
• Computational and Systems Biology
• Computational Science and Engineering
• Design and Management (IDM &​ SDM)
• Joint Program with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Leaders for Global Operations
• Microbiology
• Music Technology and Computation
• Operations Research
• Real Estate Development
• Social and Engineering Systems
• Supply Chain Management
• Technology and Policy
• Transportation
• School of Architecture and Planning
• School of Engineering
• Aeronautics and Astronautics Fields (PhD)
• Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making (Course 6-​4)
• Biological Engineering (PhD)
• Nuclear Science and Engineering (PhD)
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• Humanities (Course 21)
• Humanities and Engineering (Course 21E)
• Humanities and Science (Course 21S)
• Sloan School of Management
• School of Science
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences (PhD)
• Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Fields (PhD)
• Interdisciplinary Programs (SB)
• Climate System Science and Engineering (Course 1-​12)
• Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science (Course 6-​14)
• Interdisciplinary Programs (Graduate)
• Computation and Cognition (MEng)
• Computational Science and Engineering (SM)
• Computational Science and Engineering (PhD)
• Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science (MEng)
• Leaders for Global Operations (MBA/​SM and SM)
• Music Technology and Computation (SM and MASc)
• Real Estate Development (SM)
• Statistics (PhD)
• Supply Chain Management (MEng and MASc)
• Technology and Policy (SM)
• Transportation (SM)
• Aeronautics and Astronautics (Course 16)
• Aerospace Studies (AS)
• Civil and Environmental Engineering (Course 1)
• Comparative Media Studies /​ Writing (CMS)
• Comparative Media Studies /​ Writing (Course 21W)
• Computational and Systems Biology (CSB)
• Computational Science and Engineering (CSE)
• Concourse (CC)
• Data, Systems, and Society (IDS)
• Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (Course 12)
• Economics (Course 14)
• Edgerton Center (EC)
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Course 6)
• Engineering Management (EM)
• Experimental Study Group (ES)
• Global Languages (Course 21G)
• Health Sciences and Technology (HST)
• Linguistics and Philosophy (Course 24)
• Management (Course 15)
• Media Arts and Sciences (MAS)
• Military Science (MS)
• Music and Theater Arts (Course 21M)
• Naval Science (NS)
• Science, Technology, and Society (STS)
• Special Programs
• Supply Chain Management (SCM)
• Urban Studies and Planning (Course 11)
• Women's and Gender Studies (WGS)

Department of Urban Studies and Planning

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) offers four degree programs: a Bachelor of Science in Planning; a two-year professional Master in City Planning (MCP); a one-year Master of Science in Urban Studies and Planning (reserved for mid-career students); and a PhD in Urban Studies and Planning. In addition, DUSP has other, nondegree programs and affiliations: the Special Program in Urban and Regional Studies (for mid-career professionals from developing countries); the Community Innovators Lab ; the Center for Advanced Urbanism ; and the SENSEable City Lab . Once students are admitted and enrolled at MIT, it is possible to apply for certificate programs in urban design (offered jointly with the Department of Architecture) or environmental planning.

City and regional planners in the United States and other parts of the world are involved not only in physical and economic development, but also in management of the environmental, social, and design consequences of development. They engage in a variety of activities aimed at shaping the forms and patterns of human settlements, and at providing people with housing, public services, employment opportunities, and other crucial support systems that comprise a decent living environment. Planning encompasses not just a concern for the structure and experience of the built environment, but also a desire to harness the social, economic, political, and technological forces that give meaning to the everyday lives of men and women in residential, work, and recreational settings. Planners operate at the neighborhood, metropolitan, state, national, or international level, in both the public and the private sectors. Their tasks are the same: to help frame the issues and problems that receive attention; to formulate and implement projects, programs, and policies responsive to individual and group needs; and to work with and for various communities in allocating economic and physical resources most efficiently and most equitably.

Planners are often described as "generalists with a specialty." The specialties offered at MIT include city design and development; housing, community, and economic development; international development; and environmental policy and planning, as well as cross-cutting opportunities to study urban information systems, multi-regional systems, and mobility systems. These planning specialties can be distinguished by the geographic levels at which decision making takes place—neighborhood, city, regional, state, national, and global. Subspecialties have also been described in terms of the roles that planners are called upon to play, such as manager, designer, regulator, advocate, educator, evaluator, or futurist.

A focus on the development of practice-related skills is central to the department's mission, particularly for students in the MCP professional degree program. Acquiring these skills and integrating them with classroom knowledge are advanced through the department's field-based practicum subjects and research, and through internship programs. In fieldwork, students acquire competence by engaging in practice and then bringing field experiences back into the academic setting for reflection and discussion. Students may work with community organizations, government agencies, or private firms under the direction of faculty members involved in field-based projects with outside clients. In some cases, stipends may be available for fieldwork or internship programs. The Department of Urban Studies and Planning is committed to educating planners who can advocate on behalf of underrepresented constituencies.

During the month of January, the department offers a series of "mini-subjects" in specialized fields not covered by the regular curriculum, including both noncredit and for-credit offerings.

Specific opportunities for concentration and specialization available to students are detailed in the descriptions of the degree programs that follow.

Bachelor of Science in Planning (Course 11)

Urban science and planning with computer science (course 11-6), five-year sb-mcp option, minor in urban studies and planning, minor in international development, minor in public policy, hass concentrations, undergraduate study.

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning offers a Bachelor of Science in Planning; HASS Minors in Urban Studies and Planning, International Development, and Public Policy; and a variety of HASS concentrations. There is also an accelerated SB/MCP program which allows exceptional students to complete their undergraduate and master's degree work in five years.

In addition, DUSP also hosts MIT's Teacher Education Program (TEP), described under Career and Professional Options in the Undergraduate Education section. TEP provides an option for students interested in exploring new ideas in teaching and learning as applied to K-12 schools. Studies in TEP can also lead to licensure in math or science teaching at the high school or middle school levels.

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning offers an interdisciplinary preprofessional undergraduate major designed to prepare students for careers in both the public and private sectors. The major also provides a foundation for students who are considering graduate work in law, public policy, international development, urban design, management, and planning. The subjects in the major teach students how the tools of economics, policy analysis, political science, and urban design can be used to solve social and environmental problems in the United States and abroad. In addition, students learn the skills and responsibilities of planners who seek to promote effective and equitable social change.

After satisfying the core requirements, students use their electives to pursue a specific track. We suggest one of the following, but will accept self-designed options to better meet a student's interest: urban and environmental policy and planning; urban society, history, and politics; or urban and regional public policy. The required laboratory emphasizes urban information systems and offers skills for measurement, representation, and analysis of urban phenomena. In the laboratory subject, students also explore the ways emerging technology can be used to improve government decision making.

Students are encouraged to develop a program that will strengthen their analytic skills, broaden their intellectual perspectives, and test these insights in real-world applications. Students must complete a senior project that synthesizes what they have learned. This project may consist of an analysis of a public policy issue, a report on a problem-solving experience from an internship or other field experience, or a synthesis of research on urban affairs.

Urban settlements and technology around the world are rapidly co-evolving as flows of population, finance, and politics are reshaping the very identity of cities and nations globally. We already see rapid and profound change, especially in mega-cities, including pervasive sensing, the growth and availability of continuous data streams, advanced analytics, interactive communications and social networks, and distributed intelligence. Examples of new technologies facilitated by or requiring big data and new informatics concentrated in urban areas include, but are not limited to, autonomous vehicles, sensor-enabled self-management of natural resources, cybersecurity for critical infrastructure biometric identity, the sharing or gig-economy, and continuous public engagement opportunities through social networks and data and visualization.

The Bachelor of Science in Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science (Course 11-6) emphasizes the development of fundamental skills in urban planning and policy, including ethics and justice; statistics, data science, geospatial analysis, and visualization; and computer science, robotics, and machine learning. The Course 11-6 program provides numerous opportunities for field-based problem-solving experience through labs, UROP assignments and client-based courses in which students synthesize and empirically integrate what they are learning about theory and practice at the intersection of computer and urban science. Students also have the opportunity to specialize though the selection of a customized concentration of upper-level electives in data visualization, applied spatial analysis, design, and public policy. Students in the program are full members of both departments and of two schools, Architecture and Planning and Engineering.

Email for more information or call 617-253-1933.

Undergraduate Course 11 majors may apply for admission to the department's Master in City Planning (MCP) program in their junior year. Students accepted into the five-year program receive both the Bachelor of Science and the MCP at the end of five years. Admission is intended for those undergraduates who have demonstrated exceptional performance in the major and show commitment to the field of city planning. Criteria for admission include the following:

• A strong academic record in Course 11 subjects
• Letters of reference from departmental faculty
• Practical experience in planning, which could be gained through internships, practicums, studios, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program experiences, summer jobs, etc.
• A mature and passionate interest for the field that warrants further study

Students can obtain more information on the five-year program from Sandra Wellford, undergraduate administrator, Room 7-346A, 617-253-9403.

The six-subject Minor in Urban Studies and Planning offers students the opportunity to explore issues in urban studies and planning in some depth. Students initially take two Tier I subjects that establish the political, economic, and design contexts for local, urban, and regional decision making. In addition, students choose four Tier II elective subjects, which provide an opportunity to focus on urban and environmental policy issues or to study urban problems and institutions. Students are encouraged to craft a minor that reflects their own particular interests within the general parameters of the minor program requirements and in consultation with the minor advisor.

The HASS Minor in International Development aims to increase students' ability to understand, analyze, and tackle problems of global poverty and economic development in the developing world. Challenges include increasing urbanization; the need for industrial growth as well as jobs for an increasing number of educated youth; the crisis of resources and infrastructure; the fragmentation of state capacity and rising violence; ethical and moral issues raised by development planning; the role of appropriate technology and research; and popular discontent. The minor emphasizes problem-solving, multidisciplinarity, and an understanding of institutions at various levels—from the local to the global—as the keys to solving today’s problems in emerging countries.

The six-subject minor is structured into two tiers. The subjects in the first tier provide a general overview of the history of international development and major theories and debates in the field, and an introduction to the dilemmas of practice. They also introduce the challenges of applying models of interventions across contexts and the importance of understanding local institutional frameworks and political economies across scales and levels of governance.

Subjects in the second tier offer an array of more specialized and advanced subjects to allow students greater depth in specific sectors and international development issues such as public finance, infrastructure and energy, sustainability, the role of technology policy, the form and structure of cities, the politics of urban change and development, the role of law and public policy in development, and the rethinking of development in terms of human rights.

Additional subjects not listed above may be included in the minor at the discretion of the minor advisor.

Further information can be obtained from Professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal , Room 9-432, 617-253-6315.

The interdisciplinary HASS Minor in Public Policy is intended to provide a single framework for students interested in the role of public policy in the field of their technical expertise. Because the Course 11 major has a strong public policy element and several subjects are redundant, Course 11 majors are not eligible for the Minor in Public Policy.

DUSP offers clusters of subjects that satisfy the Institute requirement. These three-subject clusters allow students either to develop competence within a specific discipline or to explore a particular policy problem. Possible areas of concentration include: designing the urban environment, environmental policy, urban history, policy analysis and urban problems, legal issues and social change, and education. Sample programs are available online.

The DUSP concentration focusing on education can also lead to Massachusetts licensure in teaching math and science at the middle and high school levels. This requires taking:

More information is available from Eric Klopfer, Room E15-301, 617-253-2025.

Master in City Planning

Simultaneous master's degrees in city planning and architecture, simultaneous master's degrees in city planning and transportation, simultaneous master's degrees in city planning and real estate development, master of science in urban studies and planning, doctor of philosophy, graduate programs in transportation, environmental planning certificate, urban design certificate, nondegree programs, graduate study.

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning offers graduate work leading to the Master in City Planning and the Doctor of Philosophy. In conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, the department also offers a Master of Science in Real Estate Development. These programs are open to students from a variety of backgrounds. Urban studies, city planning, architecture, urban design, environmental planning, political science, civil engineering, economics, sociology, geography, law, management, and public administration all offer suitable preparation. For further information concerning academic programs in the department, application for admission, and financial aid, contact Graduate Admissions, Room 9-413, 617-253-9403.

The principal professional degree in the planning field is the Master in City Planning (MCP). The Department of Urban Studies and Planning provides graduate education for men and women who will assume professional roles in public, private, and nonprofit agencies, firms, and international institutions, in the United States and abroad. The department seeks to provide MCP students with the skills and specialized knowledge needed to fill traditional as well as emerging planning roles. The MCP is accredited by the American Planning Association.

The two-year Master in City Planning degree program emphasizes mastery of tools for effective practice and is therefore distinct from undergraduate liberal arts programs in urban affairs or doctoral programs that emphasize advanced research skills. MCP graduates work in a broad array of roles, from "traditional" city planning to economic, social, and environmental planning, as well as urban design. In addition to its basic core requirements, the program offers four areas of specialization: City Design and Development; Environmental Policy and Planning; Housing, Community, and Economic Development; and International Development. MCP students, in their application to the department, select one of these areas of specialization and, when applicable, indicate interest in cross-cutting programs in transportation planning, urban information systems, and regional planning.

Each student's plan of study in the MCP Program is set forth in a program statement developed jointly by the student and faculty advisor during the student's first term. Linked to career development goals, the program statement describes the purposes and goals of study, the proposed schedule of subjects, the manner in which competence in a specialization is developed, and an indication of a possible thesis topic.

Degree Requirements

Students are expected to take a minimum of 36 credit units each term (at least three subjects, though more frequently four), yielding at least 126 total units, in addition to the thesis.

A collection of subjects and requirements to be taken during the student's two years in the MCP program constitute a "core experience" viewed as central to the professional program. The core subjects and requirements include the following:

Students identified as having weaker writing skills are also encouraged to take a writing course.

All students are required to submit a thesis on a topic of their choice. The department encourages MCP students to avoid the traditional perception of the thesis as a "mini-dissertation," and to think instead of a client-oriented, professional document that bridges academic and professional concerns. While most of the thesis work occurs during the last term of the second year, students are urged to begin the process of defining a thesis topic early in the second year through their participation in a required thesis preparation seminar.

Students in the MCP Program are encouraged to integrate fieldwork and internships with academic coursework. The Department of Urban Studies and Planning provides a variety of individual and group field placements involving varying degrees of faculty participation and supervision. Academic credit is awarded for field experience, although some students choose instead to participate in the work-study financial aid program. The department also sponsors a variety of seminars in which students have an opportunity to reflect on their field experiences.

The City Design and Development (CDD) group engages, researches, and projects the physical planning of cities, regions, and their built and natural environments, at scales and locations that range from urban neighborhoods and city cores to outer suburbs. Graduates work in a variety of private, public, and nonprofit roles as urban designers, planning and design consultants, municipal and regional planners, managers of public agencies, advocates of historic and landscape preservation, housing, and land use regulations, real estate development, and as planners of transportation and mobility systems. CDD is closely associated with faculty and students in the Department of Architecture's Urbanism field, the Center for Advanced Urbanism, Center for Real Estate, SENSEable City Lab, and Media Lab. Many subjects are cross-listed with these groups. CDD's diverse educational offerings, ranging from studios to seminars, lectures, and workshops, ensure that every student can develop unique competence and intellectual depth in the field. CDD students may also elect to pursue the Urban Design Certificate ,  for those who wish to be involved in shaping the physical form and logistical function of cities, or pursue an additional year of study through DUSP's SM in Advanced Urbanism .  Individual faculty within CDD also work in areas that include landscape urbanism; resilient cities and housing; land use planning and regulation; innovation districts; parametric urbanism; and much more. 

The Center for Advanced Urbanism—jointly administered by faculty from the CDD group and the Urbanism group in the Department of Architecture—is a research-based institution dedicated to implementing new collaborative models of design and urban research.

The Environmental Policy and Planning (EPP) group emphasizes the study of how society conserves and manages its natural resources and works to promote sustainable development. Areas of concern include the role of science in environmental policy-making, climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable international development, adaptive ecosystem management, environmental justice, global environmental treaty making, environmental regulation, energy efficiency and renewable energy, the role of private corporations in environmental management, the public health impacts of environmental planning, infrastructure planning, and the mediation of environmental disputes. Students investigate the interactions between built and natural systems; the effectiveness of different approaches to environmental planning and policymaking; techniques for describing, modeling, forecasting, and evaluating changes in environmental quality; approaches to environmental policy analysis; strategies for stakeholder involvement in environmental planning; and mechanisms for assessing the choices posed by the environmental impacts of new technology in local, state, national, and international contexts.

The Housing, Community, and Economic Development (HCED) group focuses on the equitable development of communities in the United States, at the neighborhood, city, and regional scales. Its mission is to prepare professionals with the skills and knowledge to be responsible leaders of public, private, and nonprofit sector organizations and networks engaged in equitable development. The group is driven by a deep faculty commitment to expanding opportunity and improving quality of life for historically disadvantaged groups. HCED emphasizes ongoing, empowering partnerships with those affected by change—often those who are organizing to lead local improvement efforts. Many faculty and students also have an interest in global markets and federal and state policy. For decades, the group’s faculty and students have helped shape policy, practice and research in housing, economic, workforce, and comprehensive community development. Increasingly, HCED connects to efforts that promote public health, environmental sustainability, and more inclusive “digital cities” as well. HCED promotes an integrated and dynamic approach to learning, helping prepare students for careers as problem solvers who can perform in varied roles: policy analyst or policy maker, advocate and organizer, mediator, evaluator, program designer, investor and entrepreneur, project developer and manager. At the doctoral level, HCED prepares students not only to produce but also to shape the next generation of creative teaching and scholarship.

The International Development Group (IDG) draws on the experiences of developing and newly industrializing countries throughout the world as the basis for advice about planning at the local, regional, national, and global levels. IDG provides students with an integrated view of the institutional, legal, historical, economic, technological, and sociopolitical factors that have shaped successful planning experiences and how they translate into action. Class content and faculty expertise include economic development at various scales; human rights and rights-based approaches to development, ethical and moral issues raised by development planning, the challenge of planning amidst popular discontent; regional planning (including decentralization); finance and project evaluation; housing, human settlements, and infrastructure services (transportation, telecommunications, water, sanitation, sewerage); institutions of economic growth; law and economic development; industrialization and industrial policies (including privatization); poverty-reducing and employment-increasing interventions including informal sector, nongovernment organizations, and small enterprises; comparative urban and metropolitan politics and policy; property and land rights, comparative property and land use law, collective action, and common property issues (water, forestry, grazing, agriculture); human rights and development; conflict and social dynamics in cities; post-conflict development; and globalization and governance.

Urban Information Systems (UIS) is a cross-cutting group that connects faculty, staff, and students who are interested in the ways information and communication technologies impact urban planning. Research topics include building neighborhood information systems to facilitate public participation in planning; exploring the complex relationships underlying urban spatial structure, land use, transportation, and the environment; modeling urban futures and metropolitan growth scenarios; and experimenting with mobile computing, location-based services, and the community building, planning, and urban design implications of ubiquitous computing. Associated faculty are engaged in many related research projects through the SENSEable City Lab, the Civic Data Design Lab, the Urban Mobility Lab, the Center for Advanced Urbanism, and MIT-wide interdisciplinary research initiatives such as the Future Urban Mobility project in Singapore. Through seminars and related activities, we share experiences and find ways to collaborate on the technical, planning, and social science aspects of making information technology–enabled urban futures more responsive to public and private interests in ways that are transparent and equitable.

Much of UIS's work involves the development and use of planning-related software and the urban analytics, spatial analysis tools, and systems (such as GIS and distributed geoprocessing) that are increasingly important parts of urban planning methods and metropolitan information infrastructures. However, UIS interests go beyond the development and use of specific technologies and extend to an examination of the ripple effects of computing, communications, and digital spatial information on current planning practices and on the meaning and value of the impacted communities and planning institutions.

Students who have been admitted to either the Department of Urban Studies and Planning or the Department of Architecture can propose a program of joint work in the two fields that will lead to the simultaneous awarding of two degrees. Degree combinations may be MCP/MArch or MCP/SMArchS. A student must apply by the January deadline prior to beginning the last full year of graduate study for the first degree: MCP and SMArchS. SMArchS students must apply during their first year at MIT (by the end of the first term); MArch students must apply during or before their second year. Students are first approved by the Dual Degree Committee and then considered during the spring admissions process. All candidates for simultaneous degrees must meet the requirements of both degrees, but may submit a joint thesis.

Students who have been admitted to study for the Master in City Planning or the Master of Science in Transportation may apply to the other program during their first year of study and propose a program of joint work in the two fields that will lead to the simultaneous awarding of two degrees. Details of this program are provided under Interdepartmental Programs in the Civil and Environmental Engineering section.

Students who have been admitted to the Master in City Planning Program or the Master of Science in Real Estate Development Program may apply to the other program during their first year of study and propose a program of joint work in the two fields that will lead to the simultaneous awarding of two degrees. Students may submit a joint thesis.

Under special circumstances, admission may be granted to candidates seeking a one-year Master of Science (SM) degree. The SM is intended for professionals with a number of years of distinguished practice in city planning or related fields who have a clear idea of the courses they want to take at MIT, the thesis they want to write, and the DUSP faculty member with whom they wish to work. That faculty member must be prepared to advise the candidate when at MIT and to submit a letter of recommendation so indicating as part of the candidate's application. This process means that prior to submitting an application the candidate must contact the appropriate DUSP faculty member to establish such a relationship. The SM does not require the candidate to take the core courses, which are mandatory for MCP candidates. As indicated above, a thesis is required. For further information concerning the SM option, contact Graduate Admissions, Room 7-346, 617-253-9403.

The PhD is the advanced research degree in urban planning or urban studies. Admission requirements are substantially the same as for the master's degree, but additional emphasis is placed on academic preparation, professional experience, and the fit between the student's research interests and the department's research activities. Nearly all successful applicants have previously completed a master's degree.

The doctoral program emphasizes the development of research competence and the application of research methods to exploring critical planning questions. Students work under the mentorship of a faculty advisor. They may focus their studies on any subfield of planning in which the faculty in the department have expertise.

After successful completion of coursework, students are required to take oral and written qualifying general exams in two fields: an intellectual discipline (city design and development, international development, public policy, urban information systems, regional and urban economics, or urban sociology) and a field to which this discipline is applied and that coincides with the student's research interest and possible dissertation topic. Doctoral candidates are expected to complete the qualifying general examinations before beginning their third year of residence. Upon completing the qualifying general examination and a colloquium about the dissertation proposal, a PhD candidate must write and successfully defend a doctoral dissertation that gives evidence of the capacity to do independent and innovative research.

A minimum of 72 units plus 36 units for the dissertation (a minimum of 108 units) is required for the PhD degree.

Interested and qualified students can undertake joint doctoral programs with the Department of Political Science or the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Advanced Urbanism Concentration

The Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU), together with the Department of Architecture and MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, have established a collaborative doctoral-level concentration in advanced urbanism. At MIT, advanced urbanism is the field that integrates research on urban design, urbanization, and urban culture. The doctoral concentration in advanced urbanism is intended for those who have at least one professional design degree (in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, etc.). A successful applicant will have research interests in urbanism that align with faculty research in both DUSP and Architecture. In this spirit, the student’s dissertation committee is expected to include faculty from both departments. More broadly, an advanced urbanism doctoral student is expected to engage with the research community at the LCAU and within their home department throughout their time at MIT. 

Admissions applications for the DUSP side of this program are submitted directly through the department’s regular PhD admissions process, with the same January 3 deadline. Those interested in being considered for an Advanced Urbanism doctoral fellowship should indicate this in their applications. In the process of application review, the DUSP PhD admissions committee will identify strong applicants who fit the advanced urbanism program profile and nominate them for further consideration by a joint advanced urbanism admissions committee. The applicant selected by this joint committee would, in turn, be admitted as part of the regular DUSP PhD admissions process. Upon arrival at MIT, students holding the advanced urbanism doctoral fellowship through DUSP will be expected to complete all DUSP doctoral degree requirements plus additional requirements for the advanced urbanism concentration. Tuition support and research assistantships are provided by LCAU. Additional details can be found on the LCAU website .

Interdisciplinary Programs

MIT provides a broad range of opportunities for transportation-related education. Courses and classes span the School of Engineering, the Sloan School of Management, and the School of Architecture and Planning, with many activities covering interdisciplinary topics that prepare students for future industry, government, or academic careers.

A variety of graduate degrees are available to students interested in transportation studies and research, including a Master of Science in Transportation and PhD in Transportation , described under Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs.

Students in the MCP and PhD program who complete a prescribed set of subjects are awarded a Certificate in Environmental Planning. 

Students in the MCP, MArch, or SMArchS programs who complete a specific curriculum of subjects in history and theory, public policy, development, studios and workshops, and a thesis in the field of urban design are awarded a Certificate in Urban Design by the School of Architecture and Planning. 

A limited number of nondegree students are admitted to the department each term. This special student status is especially designed for professionals interested in developing specialized skills, but is also available to others.

The MIT Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) supports faculty and students to work with low-income and excluded people in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, tapping their energy, creativity, and in-depth knowledge of the issues they face to tackle poverty, climate change, and mass urbanization. Launched in 2007, CoLab supports faculty and student collaboration on field-based projects working with departments, laboratories, and centers across the Institute on action research while providing important resources to community leaders.

CoLab offers instruction and tools—practice-based classes, study groups, tutoring, coaching, mentoring, as well as IAP courses in reflective practice, civic engagement, action research, use of social media, storytelling, and visual mapping—to help students embed and apply technical learning in real societal contexts, equipping them with the resources they will need to take leadership roles in an increasingly complex world. Its dense network of innovative practitioners in the US, Latin America, and the Caribbean augment faculty instruction with field-based coaching, helping to train the next generation of practitioners and scholars committed to addressing social exclusion and sustainability—two of the greatest global challenges of our time.

In addition to work in communities, CoLab hosts regular programs that bring nationally recognized leaders to share their work and help inform the Institute’s research agenda. The Mel King Community Fellows Program convenes an annual cohort of advanced practitioners from a range of relevant fields who are grappling with challenges of equitable and sustainable development. CoLab also provides community and industry leaders with private deliberative space in which they can explore emerging issues while allowing students up-close opportunities to participate in collaborative brainstorming sessions. Along with CoLab workshops, CoLab Radio (the center's blog) and online programming, roundtables, speaker series, and lunchtime talks, these activities enliven and enrich the Institute’s intellectual community by infusing it with a powerful diversity of voices and insights.

CoLab is located in Room 9-419. Further information can be found on the CoLab website and CoLab blog .

The Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) is a one-year program designed for mid-career professionals from developing and newly industrializing countries. SPURS was founded in 1967 as part of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), which has a long-standing commitment to bringing outstanding individuals to MIT to reflect on their professional practice in the field of international development. The program is designed to nurture individuals, often at a turning point in their professional careers, to retool and reflect on their policy-making and planning skills. SPURS Fellows return to their countries with a better understanding of the complex set of relationships among local, regional, and international issues. SPURS has hosted over 676 women and men from more than 117 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern and Central Europe. SPURS alumni/ae hold senior level positions in both the public and private sectors in their countries. 

For further information contact Nimfa de Leon, Room 9-435, 617-253-5915 or visit the SPURS website . 

For further information concerning academic programs in the department, application for admission, and financial aid, contact Graduate Admissions, Room 9-413, 617-253-9403.

Faculty and Teaching Staff

P. Christopher Zegras, PhD

Professor of Urban Planning and Transportation

Head, Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Mariana Arcaya, ScD

Professor of Urban Planning and Public Health

Eran Ben-Joseph, PhD

Class of 1922 Professor

Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning

Alan M. Berger, MLA

Professor of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture

(On leave, spring)

Phillip L. Clay, PhD

Professor Post-Tenure of Urban Studies and Planning

Nicholas de Monchaux, MArch

Professor of Architecture

Professor of Urban Studies and Planning

Head, Department of Architecture

Joseph Ferreira Jr, PhD

Professor Post-Tenure of Urban Planning and Operations Research

Dennis M. Frenchman, MArch, MCP

Professor Post-Tenure of Urban Design and Planning

David M. Geltner, PhD

Professor Post-Tenure of Real Estate Finance

Amy K. Glasmeier, PhD

Professor of Economic Geography and Regional Planning

Erica C. James, PhD

Professor of Medical Anthropology and Urban Studies

Professor of Anthropology

Eric Klopfer, PhD

Professor of Comparative Media Studies

Professor of Education

Interim Head, Literature Section

Head, Comparative Media Studies/Writing Program

Janelle Knox-Hayes, PhD

Professor of Economic Geography and Planning

Jennifer S. Light, PhD

Bern Dibner Professor of the History of Science and Technology

Brent D. Ryan, PhD

Professor of Urban Design and Public Policy

Bishwapriya Sanyal, PhD

Ford International Professor

Professor of International Development and Planning

Hashim Sarkis, PhD

Professor of Urban Planning

Dean, School of Architecture and Planning

Anne Whiston Spirn, PhD

Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor

Professor of Planning

Professor of Landscape Architecture

Lawrence E. Susskind, PhD

Ford Professor in Urban Studies

Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning

J. Phillip Thompson, PhD

Professor of Political Science and Urban Planning

Lawrence Vale, DPhil

Ford International Professor in Urban Studies

Professor of Urban Design and Planning

Jinhua Zhao, PhD

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Member, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Siqi Zheng, PhD

Samuel Tak Lee Professor

Professor of Urban and Real Estate Sustainability

Associate Professors

Gabriella Carolini, PhD

Associate Professor of International Development and Urban Planning

Catherine D'Ignazio, PhD

Sherman Fairchild Career Development Professor

Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning

David Hsu, PhD

Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning

Jason Jackson, PhD

Associate Professor of Political Economy and Urban Planning

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, SJD

Associate Professor of Law and Development

Albert Saiz, PhD

Daniel Rose Professor

Associate Professor of Urban Economics and Real Estate

Andres Sevtsuk, PhD

Charles and Ann Spaulding Career Development Professor

Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning

Justin Steil, JD, PhD

Associate Professor of Law and Urban Planning

Sarah E. Williams, MCP

Norman B. and Muriel Leventhal Professor

Associate Professor of Information Technologies and Urban Planning

Assistant Professors

Devin Michelle Bunten, PhD

Assistant Professor of Urban Economics and Housing

Karilyn Crockett, PhD

Ford Career Development Professor

Assistant Professor of History and Urban Planning

Delia Wendel, PhD

Assistant Professor of International Development and Urban Planning

Professors of the Practice

Ceasar L. McDowell, EdD

Professor of the Practice of Civic Design

Carlo Ratti, PhD

Professor of the Practice of Urban Technologies

Associate Professors of the Practice

Holly Harriel, EdD

Associate Professor of the Practice of Urban Studies and Planning

Mary Anne Ocampo, MArch

Associate Professor of the Practice of Urban Design and Planning

Kairos Shen, MS

Senior Lecturers

Joseph F. Coughlin, PhD

Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies and Planning

Walter N. Torous, PhD

Senior Lecturer in Real Estate

Cherie Abbanat, MCP

Lecturer of International Development and Urban Studies

Sarah Abrams, MS

Lecturer of Real Estate

James Aloisi, MA, JD

Lecturer in Urban Studies and Planning

Garnette Cadogan, BA

Tunney Lee Distinguished Lecturer

Jennifer Cookke, MS, MBA

Mary Jane Daly, MCP

Ezra Glenn, MA

Christopher Gordon, MS

Eric Huntley, PhD

Lecturer of GIS, Data Visualization and Graphics

John Kennedy, MS

Jeffrey Levine, MS

Lecturer of Economic Development and Planning

W. Tod McGrath, MBA

Julie Newman, PhD

Lecturer of Environmental Planning and Sustainability

Peter Roth, MS, MArch

Gloria Schuck, PhD

Yanni Tsipis, MS

Bruno Verdini Trejo, PhD

Lecturer of Urban Planning and Negotiation

Visiting Lecturers

Kate Mytty, MCP

Visiting Lecturer of Real Estate

Professors Emeriti

Lawrence Bacow, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning

Robert M. Fogelson, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies

Professor Emeritus of History

Ralph Gakenheimer, PhD

Gary A. Hack, MArch, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Urban Design

Langley C. Keyes Jr, PhD

Ford International Professor Emeritus

Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning

Frank Levy, PhD

Daniel Rose Professor Emeritus

Professor Emeritus of Urban Economics

Gary Marx, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Sociology

Paul Osterman, PhD

Nanyang Technological University Professor Emeritus

Professor Emeritus of Human Resources and Management

Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Planning

Karen R. Polenske, PhD

Professor Emerita of Regional Political Economy and Planning

Adèle Naudé Santos, MArch, MCP, MAUD

Professor Emerita of Architecture

Professor Emerita of Urban Planning

James Wescoat, PhD

Aga Khan Professor Emeritus

William C. Wheaton, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Economics

Clarence G. Williams, PhD

Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Planning

Introductory Subjects

11.001[j] introduction to urban design and development.

Same subject as 4.250[J] Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H

Examines the evolving structure of cities and the way that cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas can be designed and developed. Surveys the ideas of a wide range of people who have addressed urban problems. Stresses the connection between values and design. Demonstrates how physical, social, political and economic forces interact to shape and reshape cities over time. Introduces links between urban design and urban science.

L. Vale (fall); A. Sevtsuk (spring)

11.002[J] Making Public Policy

Same subject as 17.30[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) 4-0-8 units. HASS-S; CI-H

Examines how the struggle among competing advocates shapes the outputs of government. Considers how conditions become problems for government to solve, why some political arguments are more persuasive than others, why some policy tools are preferred over others, and whether policies achieve their goals. Investigates the interactions among elected officials, think tanks, interest groups, the media, and the public in controversies over global warming, urban sprawl, Social Security, health care, education, and other issues.

11.003[J] Methods of Policy Analysis

Same subject as 17.303[J] Prereq: 11.002[J] ; Coreq: 14.01 Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Provides students with an introduction to public policy analysis. Examines various approaches to policy analysis by considering the concepts, tools, and methods used in economics, political science, and other disciplines. Students apply and critique these approaches through case studies of current public policy problems.

11.004[J] People and the Planet: Environmental Histories and Engineering

Same subject as STS.033[J] Subject meets with 11.204[J] , IDS.524[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-3-6 units. HASS-E

Explores historical and cultural aspects of complex environmental problems and engineering approaches to sustainable solutions. Introduces quantitative analyses and methodological tools to understand environmental issues that have human and natural components. Demonstrates concepts through a series of historical and cultural analyses of environmental challenges and their engineering responses. Builds writing, quantitative modeling, and analytical skills in assessing environmental systems problems and developing engineering solutions. Through environmental data gathering and analysis, students engage with the challenges and possibilities of engineering in complex, interacting systems, and investigate plausible, symbiotic, systems-oriented solutions. Students taking graduate version complete additional analysis of reading assignments and a more in-depth and longer final paper. 

A. Slocum, R. Scheffler, J. Trancik

11.005 Introduction to International Development

Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Introduces the political economy of international economic development planning, using an applied, quantitative approach. Considers why some countries are able to develop faster than others. Presents major theories and models of development and underdevelopment, providing tools to understand the mechanisms and processes behind economic growth and broader notions of progress. Offers an alternative view of development, focusing on the persistence of dichotomies in current theory and practice. Using specific cases, explores how different combinations of actors and institutions at various scales may promote or inhibit economic development. Students re-examine conventional knowledge and engage critically with the assumptions behind current thinking and policy.

11.006 Poverty and Economic Security

Subject meets with 11.206 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: U (Fall) Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Explores the evolution of poverty and economic security in the US within a global context. Examines the impacts of recent economic restructuring and globalization. Reviews current debates about the fate of the middle class, sources of increasing inequality, and approaches to advancing economic opportunity and security. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

A. Glasmeier

11.007 Urban and Environmental Technology Implementation Lab

Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 2-2-8 units

Real-world clients and environmental problems form the basis of a project in which teams of students develop strategies for analysis and implementation of new sensor technology within cities. Working closely with a partner or client based on the MIT campus or in Cambridge, students assess the environmental problem, implement prototypes, and recommend promising solutions to the client for implementation. Equipment and working space provided. Limited to 12.

11.008 Undergraduate Planning Seminar (New)

Prereq: None U (Fall) 2-0-4 units Can be repeated for credit.

A weekly seminar that includes discussions on topics in cities and urban planning, including guest lectures from DUSP faculty and practicing planners. Topics include urban science, zoning, architecture and urban design, urban sociology, politics and public policy, transportation and mobility, democratic governance, civil rights and social justice, urban economics, affordable housing, environmental policy and planning, real estate and economic development, agriculture and food policy, public health, and international development. Weekly student presentations on local planning issues and current events; occasional walking tours or arranged field trips. May be repeated for credit. Enrollment may be limited; preference to Course 11 and 11-6 sophomores and juniors.

11.011 The Art and Science of Negotiation

Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Introduction to negotiation theory and practice. Applications in government, business, and nonprofit settings are examined. Combines a "hands-on" personal skill-building orientation with a look at pertinent tactical and strategic foundations. Preparation insights, persuasion tools, ethical benchmarks, and institutional influences are examined as they shape our ability to analyze problems, negotiate agreements, and resolve disputes in social, organizational, and political circumstances characterized by interdependent interests. Enrollment limited by lottery; consult class website for information and deadlines.

11.013[J] American Urban History

Same subject as 21H.217[J] Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: U (Spring) Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered 2-0-7 units. HASS-H; CI-H

Seminar on the history of institutions and institutional change in American cities from roughly 1850 to the present. Among the institutions to be looked at are political machines, police departments, courts, schools, prisons, public authorities, and universities. Focuses on readings and discussions.

11.014[J] History of the Built Environment in the US

Same subject as 21H.218[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-7 units. HASS-H; CI-H

Seminar on the history of selected features of the physical environment of urban America. Among the features considered are parks, cemeteries, tenements, suburbs, zoos, skyscrapers, department stores, supermarkets, and amusement parks.

R. M. Fogelson

11.015[J] Riots, Strikes, and Conspiracies in American History

Same subject as 21H.226[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H

See description under subject 21H.226[J] .

11.016[J] The Once and Future City

Same subject as 4.211[J] Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H

Examines the evolving structure of cities, the dynamic processes that shape them, and the significance of a city's history for its future development. Develops the ability to read urban form as an interplay of natural processes and human purposes over time. Field assignments in Boston provide the opportunity to use, develop, and refine these concepts. Enrollment limited.

11.021[J] Environmental Law, Policy, and Economics: Pollution Prevention and Control

Same subject as 1.801[J] , 17.393[J] , IDS.060[J] Subject meets with 1.811[J] , 11.630[J] , 15.663[J] , IDS.540[J] Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Analyzes federal and state regulation of air and water pollution, hazardous waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and production/use of toxic chemicals. Analyzes pollution/climate change as economic problems and failure of markets. Explores the role of science and economics in legal decisions. Emphasizes use of legal mechanisms and alternative approaches (i.e., economic incentives, voluntary approaches) to control pollution and encourage chemical accident and pollution prevention. Focuses on major federal legislation, underlying administrative system, and common law in analyzing environmental policy, economic consequences, and role of the courts. Discusses classical pollutants and toxic industrial chemicals, greenhouse gas emissions, community right-to-know, and environmental justice. Develops basic legal skills: how to read/understand cases, regulations, and statutes. Students taking graduate version explore the subject in greater depth.

N. Ashford, C. Caldart

11.022[J] Regulation of Chemicals, Radiation, and Biotechnology

Same subject as 1.802[J] , IDS.061[J] Subject meets with 1.812[J] , 10.805[J] , 11.631[J] , IDS.436[J] , IDS.541[J] Prereq: IDS.060[J] or permission of instructor U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Focuses on policy design and evaluation in the regulation of hazardous substances and processes. Includes risk assessment, industrial chemicals, pesticides, food contaminants, pharmaceuticals, radiation and radioactive wastes, product safety, workplace hazards, indoor air pollution, biotechnology, victims' compensation, and administrative law. Health and economic consequences of regulation, as well as its potential to spur technological change, are discussed for each regulatory regime. Students taking the graduate version are expected to explore the subject in greater depth.

11.024 Modeling Pedestrian Activity in Cities

Subject meets with 11.324 Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Investigates the interaction between pedestrian activity, urban form, and land-use patterns in relatively dense urban environments. Informed by recent literature on pedestrian mobility, behavior, and biases, subject takes a practical approach, using software tools and analysis methods to operationalize and model pedestrian activity. Uses simplified yet powerful and scalable network analysis methods that focus uniquely on pedestrians, rather than engaging in comprehensive travel demand modeling across all modes. Emphasizes not only modeling or predicting pedestrian activity in given built settings, but also analyzing and understanding how changes in the built environment — land use changes, density changes, and connectivity changes — can affect pedestrian activity. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

A. Sevtsuk 

11.025[J] D-Lab: Development

Same subject as EC.701[J] Subject meets with 11.472[J] , EC.781[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-2-7 units. HASS-S

See description under subject EC.701[J] . Enrollment limited by lottery; must attend first class session.

S. L. Hsu, B. Sanyal

11.026[J] Downtown

Same subject as 21H.321[J] Subject meets with 11.339 Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-7 units. HASS-H

See description under subject 21H.321[J] .

11.027 City to City: Comparing, Researching, and Reflecting on Practice

Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: U (Spring) Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Introduces students to practice through researching, writing, and working for and with nonprofits. Students work directly with nonprofits and community partners to help find solutions to real world problems; interview planners and other field experts, and write and present findings to nonprofit partners and community audiences.

11.029[J] Mobility Ventures: Driving Innovation in Transportation Systems

Same subject as 15.3791[J] Subject meets with 11.529[J] , 15.379[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-3-6 units

Explores technological, behavioral, policy, and systems-wide frameworks for innovation in transportation systems, complemented with case studies across the mobility spectrum, from autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility to last-mile sidewalk robots. Students interact with a series of guest lecturers from CEOs and other business and government executives who are actively reshaping the future of mobility. Interdisciplinary teams of students collaborate to deliver business plans for proposed mobility-focused startups with an emphasis on primary market research. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Preference to juniors and seniors.

J. Zhao, J. Moavenzadeh, J. Larios Berlin

11.041 Introduction to Housing, Community, and Economic Development

Subject meets with 11.401 Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Provides a critical introduction to the shape and determinants of political, social, and economic inequality in America, with a focus on racial and economic justice. Explores the role of the city in visions of justice. Analyzes the historical, political, and institutional contexts of housing and community development policy in the US, including federalism, municipal fragmentation, and decentralized public financing. Introduces major dimensions in US housing policy, such as housing finance, public housing policy, and state and local housing affordability mechanisms. Reviews major themes in community economic development, including drivers of economic inequality, small business policy, employment policy, and cooperative economics. Expectations and evaluation criteria differ for students taking graduate version.

11.045[J] Power: Interpersonal, Organizational, and Global Dimensions

Same subject as 15.302[J] , 17.045[J] , 21A.127[J] Subject meets with 21A.129 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

See description under subject 21A.127[J] .

11.067 Land Use Law and Politics: Race, Place, and Law

Subject meets with 11.367 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Explores conceptions of spatial justice and introduces students to basic principles of US law and legal analysis, focused on property, land use, equal protection, civil rights, fair housing, and local government law, in order to examine who should control how land is used. Examines the rights of owners of land and the types of regulatory and market-based tools that are available to control land use, and discusses why and when government regulation, rather than private market ordering, might be necessary to control land use patterns. Explores basic principles of civil rights and anti-discrimination law and focuses on particular civil rights problems associated with the land use regulatory system, such as exclusionary zoning, residential segregation, the fair distribution of undesirable land uses, and gentrification. Introduces basic skills of statutory drafting and interpretation. Assignments differ for those taking the graduate version.

11.074 Cybersecurity Clinic

Subject meets with 11.274 Prereq: None U (Fall, Spring) 2-4-6 units. REST

Provides an opportunity for MIT students to become certified in methods of assessing the vulnerability of public agencies (particularly agencies that manage critical urban infrastructure) to the risk of cyberattack. Certification involves completing an 8-hour, self-paced, online set of four modules during the first four weeks of the semester followed by a competency exam. Students who successfully complete the exam become certified. The certified students work in teams with client agencies in various cities around the United States. Through preparatory interactions with the agencies, and short on-site visits, teams prepare vulnerability assessments that client agencies can use to secure the technical assistance and financial support they need to manage the risks of cyberattack they are facing. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 15.

L. Susskind

11.092 Renewable Energy Facility Siting Clinic (New)

Subject meets with 11.592 Prereq: None U (Fall, Spring) 2-4-6 units

Presents methods for resolving facility siting disputes, particularly those involving renewable energy. After completing four modules and a competency exam for MITx certification, students work in teams to help client communities in various cities around the United States. Through direct interactions with the proponents and opponents of facilities subject to local opposition, students complete a stakeholder assessment and offer joint fact-finding and collaborative problem-solving assistance. The political, legal, financial, and regulatory aspects of facility siting, particularly for renewable energy, are reviewed along with key infrastructure planning principles. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 15.

Specialized Subjects

11.100 introduction to computational thinking in cities.

Prereq: None. Coreq: 6.100B Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall) 1-0-2 units

Highlights how computer science may inform and impact how cities are conceptualized, planned, designed, regulated, and managed. The first half of the class explores the history of computational approaches in urban planning between around 1950 and 2020. The second half attempts to connect the data science concepts learned in 6.100B to topics in city planning and design. Subject can count toward the 6-unit discovery-focused credit limit for first-year students.

11.107 Tools and Techniques for Inclusive Economic Development

Subject meets with 11.407 Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Introduces tools and techniques in economic development planning. Extensive use of data collection, analysis, and display techniques. Students build interpretive intuition skills through user experience design activities and develop a series of memos summarizing the results of their data analysis. These are aggregated into a final report, and include the tools developed over the semester. Students taking graduate version complete modified assignments focused on developing computer applications.

11.111[J] Leadership in Negotiation: Advanced Applications

Same subject as 17.381[J] Prereq: 11.011 or permission of instructor U (Fall) 4-0-8 units. HASS-S

Building on the skills and strategies honed in 11.011 , explores advanced negotiation practice. Emphasizes an experiential skill-building approach, underpinned by cutting-edge cases and innovative research. Examines applications in high-stakes management, public policy, social entrepreneurship, international diplomacy, and scientific discovery. Strengthens collaborative decision-making, persuasion, and leadership skills by negotiating across different media and through personalized coaching, enhancing students' ability to proactively engage stakeholders, transform organizations, and inspire communities. Limited by lottery; consult class website for information and deadlines.

11.113 The Economic Approach to Cities and Environmental Sustainability

Subject meets with 11.413 Prereq: 1.010 , 14.30 , 18.650[J] , or permission of instructor U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S Can be repeated for credit.

Provides a systematic framework of the interplay (both tension and synergy) between urbanization and environmental sustainability from a global perspective. Enhances analytical reasoning and quantitative skills to assist evidence-based empirical study and policy design evaluation. Explores the causes and consequences of urban environmental quality dynamics, and provides econometric tools to quantify such relationships. Examines state-of-the-art research in this field by introducing empirical studies from both developing and developed countries (highlighting fast urbanization). Themes include urban production, households, transportation and form, as well as political economy and climate resilience. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.119 NEET Seminar: Digital Cities

Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 1-0-2 units Can be repeated for credit.

Seminar for students enrolled in the Digital Cities NEET thread. Focuses on topics around clean energy and sustainability in cities via guest lectures and research discussions.

11.122[J] Law, Technology, and Public Policy

Same subject as IDS.066[J] Subject meets with 11.422[J] , 15.655[J] , IDS.435[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

See description under subject IDS.066[J] .

11.123 Big Plans and Mega-Urban Landscapes

Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-6 units. HASS-S

Explores the physical, ecological, technological, political, economic and cultural implications of big plans and mega-urban landscapes in a global context. Uses local and international case studies to understand the process of making major changes to urban landscape and city fabric, and to regional landscape systems. Includes lectures by leading practitioners. Assignments consider planning and design strategies across multiple scales and time frames.

11.124[J] Introduction to Education: Looking Forward and Looking Back on Education

Same subject as CMS.586[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-6-3 units. HASS-S; CI-H

See description under subject CMS.586[J] . Limited to 25.

11.125[J] Introduction to Education: Understanding and Evaluating Education

Same subject as CMS.587[J] Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-6-3 units. HASS-S; CI-H

See description under subject CMS.587[J] . Limited to 25.

11.127[J] Design and Development of Games for Learning

Same subject as CMS.590[J] Subject meets with 11.252[J] , CMS.863[J] Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-6-3 units. HASS-H

See description under subject CMS.590[J] .

11.129[J] Educational Theory and Practice I

Same subject as CMS.591[J] Prereq: None. Coreq: CMS.586[J] U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

See description under subject CMS.591[J] . Limited to 15; preference to juniors and seniors.

G. Schwanbeck

11.130[J] Educational Theory and Practice II

Same subject as CMS.592[J] Prereq: CMS.591[J] U (IAP) 3-0-9 units

See description under subject CMS.592[J] .

11.131[J] Educational Theory and Practice III

Same subject as CMS.593[J] Prereq: CMS.592[J] U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

See description under subject CMS.593[J] .

11.133[J] Dilemmas in Biomedical Ethics: Playing God or Doing Good?

Same subject as 21A.302[J] , WGS.271[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

An introduction to the cross-cultural study of biomedical ethics. Examines moral foundations of the science and practice of western biomedicine through case studies of abortion, contraception, cloning, organ transplantation and other issues. Evaluates challenges that new medical technologies pose to the practice and availability of medical services around the globe, and to cross-cultural ideas of kinship and personhood. Discusses critiques of the biomedical tradition from anthropological, feminist, legal, religious, and cross-cultural theorists.

E. C. James

11.134[J] Infections and Inequalities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Health

Same subject as HST.431[J] Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Examines case studies in infectious disease outbreaks to demonstrate how human health is a product of multiple determinants, such as biology, sociocultural and historical factors, politics, economic processes, and the environment. Analyzes how structural inequalities render certain populations vulnerable to illness and explores the moral and ethical dimensions of public health and clinical interventions to promote health. Limited to 25.

E. James, A. Chakraborty

11.135 Violence, Human Rights, and Justice

Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

An examination of the problem of mass violence and oppression in the contemporary world, and of the concept of human rights as a defense against such abuse. Explores questions of cultural relativism, race, gender and ethnicity. Examines case studies from war crimes tribunals, truth commissions, anti-terrorist policies and other judicial attempts to redress state-sponsored wrongs. Considers whether the human rights framework effectively promotes the rule of law in modern societies. Students debate moral positions and address ideas of moral relativism.

11.136 Global Mental Health

Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Provides skills to critically analyze issues of mental health in historical and cross-cultural contexts. Studies mental illness as a complex biopsychosocial experience embedded in particular political and economic frameworks. Examines the relationships among culture, gender, embodiment, and emotional distress; power inequalities and ideas of the "normal" and "abnormal;" and how such conceptions influence care-giving practices, whether in traditional or biomedical contexts. Evaluates how the disciplines of psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychiatry have developed in the West, and considers their influence on mental health interventions in global settings. Limited to 25.

11.137 Financing Economic Development and Housing

Subject meets with 11.437 Prereq: None U (Spring) 4-0-8 units

Studies financing tools and program models to support and promote local economic development and housing. Overview of public and private capital markets and financing sources helps illustrate market imperfections that constrain economic and housing development and increase race and class disparaties. Explores federal housing and economic development programs as well as state and local public finance tools. Covers policies and program models. Investigates public finance practice to better understand how these finance programs affect other municipal operations. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 25.

11.138 Crowd Sourced City: Civic Tech Prototyping

Subject meets with 11.458 Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Investigates the use of social medial and digital technologies for planning and advocacy by working with actual planning and advocacy organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate prototype digital tools. Students use the development of their digital tools as a way to investigate new media technologies that can be used for planning. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

S. Williams, C. D'Ignazio

11.139 The City in Film

Subject meets with 11.239 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 2-2-5 units. HASS-H; CI-H

Surveys important developments in urbanism from 1900 to the present, using film as a lens to explore and interpret aspects of the urban experience in the US and abroad. Topics include industrialization, demographics, diversity, the environment, and the relationship between the community and the individual. Films vary from year to year but always include a balance of classics from the history of film, an occasional experimental/avant-garde film, and a number of more recent, mainstream movies. Students taking undergraduate version complete writing assignments that focus on observation, analysis, and the essay, and give an oral presentation. Limited to 18.

11.140 Urbanization and Development

Examines developmental dynamics of rapidly urbanizing locales, with a special focus on the developing world. Case studies from India, China, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa form the basis for discussion of social, spatial, political and economic changes in cities spurred by the decline of industry, the rise of services, and the proliferation of urban mega projects. Emphasizes the challenges of growing urban inequality, environmental risk, citizen displacement, insufficient housing, and the lack of effective institutions for metropolitan governance.

11.142 Geography of the Global Economy

Subject meets with 11.442 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Analyzes implications of economic globalization for communities, regions, international businesses and economic development organizations. Uses spatial analysis techniques to model the role of energy resources in shaping international political economy. Investigates key drivers of human, physical, and social capital flows and their roles in modern human settlement systems. Surveys contemporary models of industrialization and places them in geographic context. Connects forces of change with their implications for the distribution of wealth and human well-being. Looks backward to understand pre-Covid conditions and then returns to the present to understand how a global pandemic changes the world. Class relies on current literature and explorations of sectors. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.143 Research Methods in Global Health and Development

Subject meets with 11.243 Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-3-6 units. HASS-S

Provides training for students to critically analyze the relationship between "health" and "development." Draws upon the theory and methods of medical anthropology, social medicine, public health, and development to track how culture, history, and political economy influence health and disease in global communities. Students work in teams to formulate research questions, and collect and analyze qualitative data in clinical and community settings in the greater Boston area, in order to design effective development interventions aimed at reducing health disparities in the US and abroad. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.144 Project Appraisal in Developing Countries

Prereq: Permission of instructor U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Covers techniques of financial analysis of investment expenditures, as well as the economic and distributive appraisal of development projects. Critical analysis of these tools in the political economy of international development is discussed. Topics include appraisal's role in the project cycle, planning under conditions of uncertainty, constraints in data quality and the limits of rational analysis, and the coordination of an interdisciplinary appraisal team. Enrollment limited; preference to majors.

11.145 International Housing Economics and Finance

Prereq: 14.01 U (Spring) 3-0-6 units Credit cannot also be received for 11.355

Presents a theory of comparative differences in international housing outcomes. Introduces institutional differences in the ways housing expenditures are financed, and the economic determinants of housing outcomes, such as construction costs, land values, housing quality, and ownership rates. Analyzes the flow of funds to and from the different national housing finance sectors. Develops an understanding of the greater financial and macroeconomic implications of the mortgage credit sector, and how policies affect the ways housing asset fluctuations impact national economies. Considers the perspective of investors in international real estate markets and the risks and rewards involved. Draws on lessons from an international comparative approach, and applies them to economic and finance policies at the local, state/provincial, and federal levels within a country of choice. Meets with 11.355 when offered concurrently. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.147 Budgeting and Finance for the Public Sector

Subject meets with 11.487 Prereq: Permission of instructor U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Examines globally relevant challenges of adequately and effectively attending to public sector responsibilities for basic services with limited resources. Particular attention to the contexts of fiscal crises and rapid population growth, as well as shrinkage, through an introduction to methods and processes of budgeting, accounting, and financial mobilization. Case studies and practice exercises explore revenue strategies, demonstrate fiscal analytical competencies, and familiarize students with pioneering examples of promising budget and accounting processes and innovative funding mobilization via taxation, capital markets, and other mechanisms (e.g., land-value capture). Students taking graduate version explore the subject in greater depth.

G. Carolini

11.148 Environmental Justice: Law and Policy

Subject meets with 11.368 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Introduces frameworks for analyzing and addressing inequalities in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, particularly by race and by class. Explores the foundations and principles of the environmental justice movement from the perspectives of social science, public policy, and law. Introduces basic principles of US constitutional and environmental law, with a focus on equal protection and civil rights. Applies environmental justice principles to contemporary issues in urban policy and planning, including effects of and responses to climate change and global heating. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.149 Decarbonizing Urban Mobility

Subject meets with 11.449 Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-3-6 units

Focuses on measuring and reducing emissions from passenger transportation. After examining travel, energy, and climate conditions, students review existing approaches to transport decarbonization. Evaluates new mobility technologies through their potential to contribute to (or delay) a zero emission mobility system. Students consider the policy tools required to achieve approaches to achieve change. Frames past and future emission reductions using an approach based on the Kaya Identity, decomposing past (and potential future) emissions into their component pieces. Seeks to enable students to be intelligent evaluators of approaches to transportation decarbonization and equip them with the tools to develop and evaluate policy measures relevant to their local professional challenges. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

J. Zhao, A. Salzberg

11.150[J] Metropolis: A Comparative History of New York City

Same subject as 21H.220[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-H

See description under subject 21H.220[J] .

11.151[J] Youth Political Participation

Same subject as STS.080[J] Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H

See description under subject STS.080[J] . Limited to 40.

J. S. Light

11.152[J] The Ghetto: From Venice to Harlem

Same subject as 21H.385[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

See description under subject 21H.385[J] .

11.153[J] Shanghai and China's Modernization

Same subject as 21H.351[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-10 units. HASS-H

See description under subject 21H.351[J] .

11.154 Big Data, Visualization, and Society

Subject meets with 11.454 Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S Credit cannot also be received for 6.8530 , 6.C35[J] , 6.C85[J] , 11.454 , 11.C35[J] , 11.C85[J]

Data visualizations communicate the insights found in data to non-technical audiences. Students develop technical skills to work with big data to expose societal issues and communicate the insights. Focuses on different topics each year. After framing that topic, the first half of the subject focuses on learning to analyze the data with Python. The second half of the subject focuses on learning web-based data visualization tools (JavaScript and D3). Students learn data storytelling concepts and produce web-based data visualizations for their final projects. Throughout, students learn ethical data practices. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

S. Williams

11.C35[J] Interactive Data Visualization and Society

Same subject as 6.C35[J] Subject meets with 6.C85[J] , 11.C85[J] Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-1-8 units Credit cannot also be received for 6.8530 , 11.154 , 11.454

See description under subject 6.C35[J] . Enrollment limited.

C. D'Ignazio, A. Satyanarayan, S. Williams

11.155[J] Data and Society

Same subject as IDS.057[J] , STS.005[J] Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H

See description under subject STS.005[J] .

E. Medina, S. Williams

11.156 Healthy Cities: Assessing Health Impacts of Policies and Plans

Subject meets with 11.356 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines the built, psychosocial, economic, and natural environment factors that affect health behaviors and outcomes, including population-level patterns of disease distribution and health disparities. Introduces tools designed to integrate public health considerations into policy-making and planning. Provides extensive practical, budgeting, and programming training in the application of health impact assessment tools meant to integrate Health in All Policies, including Health Impact Assessment (HIA) methodology, which brings a health lens to policy, budgeting, and planning debates. Emphasizes health equity and healthy cities, and explores the relationship between health equity and broader goals for social and racial justice. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 30.

11.157[J] China's Growth: Political Economy, Business, and Urbanization

Same subject as 15.2391[J] Subject meets with 11.257[J] , 15.239[J] Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring; second half of term) 3-0-3 units

Examines different aspects of the growth of China, which has the second largest economy in the world. Studies the main drivers of Chinese economic growth and the forces behind the largest urbanization in human history. Discusses how to understand China's booming real estate market, and how Chinese firms operate to attain their success, whether through hard-working entrepreneurship or political connections with the government. Explores whether the top-down urban and industrial policy interventions improve efficiency or cause misallocation problems, and whether the Chinese political system in an enabler of Chinese growth or a potential impediment to the country's future growth prospects. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

Y. Huang, S. Zheng, Z. Tan

11.158 Behavioral Science, AI, and Urban Mobility

Subject meets with 11.478 Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Integrates behavioral science, artificial intelligence, and transportation technology to shape travel behavior, design mobility systems and business, and reform transportation policies. Introduces methods to sense travel behavior with new technology and measurements; nudge behavior through perception and preference shaping; design mobility systems and ventures that integrate autonomous vehicles, shared mobility, and public transit; and regulate travel with behavior-sensitive transport policies. Challenges students to pilot behavioral experiments and design creative mobility systems, business and policies. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.159 Entrepreneurial Negotiation

Subject meets with 11.259 Prereq: None U (Fall; partial term) 1-3-2 units

Combines online weekly face-to-face negotiation exercises and in-person lectures designed to empower budding entrepreneurs with negotiation techniques to protect and increase the value of their ideas, deal with ego and build trust in relationships, and navigate entrepreneurial bargaining under constraints of economic uncertainty and complex technical considerations. Students must complete scheduled weekly assignments, including feedback memos to counterpart negotiators, and meet on campus with the instructor to discuss and reflect on their experiences with the course. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.162 Politics of Energy and the Environment

Focuses on the politics of making local, state, national and international decisions on energy and the environment. Topics include implementing energy efficiency measures, siting nuclear and alternative energy plants, promoting oil and gas development offshore and in wilderness, adapting to climate change, handling toxic waste, protecting endangered species, and conserving water. Case studies include Cape Wind, disputes over oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, the response to Hurricane Katrina, and efforts to craft and comply with the greenhouse gas emissions limits.

11.164[J] Human Rights at Home and Abroad

Same subject as 17.391[J] Subject meets with 11.497 Prereq: Permission of instructor U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-10 units. HASS-S

Provides a rigorous and critical introduction to the history, foundation, structure, and operation of the human rights movement. Focuses on key ideas, actors, methods and sources, and critically evaluates the field. Addresses current debates in human rights, including the relationship with security, democracy, development and globalization, urbanization, equality (in housing and other economic and social rights; women's rights; ethnic, religious and racial discrimination; and policing/conflict), post-conflict rebuilding and transitional justice, and technology in human rights activism. No prior coursework needed, but work experience, or community service that demonstrates familiarity with global affairs or engagement with ethics and social justice issues, preferred. Students taking graduate version are expected to write a research paper.

B. Rajagopal

11.165 Urban Energy Systems and Policy

Subject meets with 1.286[J] , 11.477[J] Prereq: 14.01 or permission of instructor U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Examines efforts in developing and advanced nations and regions. Examines key issues in the current and future development of urban energy systems, such as technology, use, behavior, regulation, climate change, and lack of access or energy poverty. Case studies on a diverse sampling of cities explore how prospective technologies and policies can be implemented. Includes intensive group research projects, discussion, and debate. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.166 Law, Social Movements, and Public Policy: Comparative and International Experience

Subject meets with 11.496 Prereq: Permission of instructor U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Studies the interaction between law, courts, and social movements in shaping domestic and global public policy. Examines how groups mobilize to use law to affect change and why they succeed and fail. Case studies explore the interplay between law, social movements, and public policy in current issues, such as gender, race, labor, trade, climate change/environment, and LGBTQ rights. Introduces theories of public policy, social movements, law and society, and transnational studies. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 15.

11.167[J] Global Energy: Politics, Markets, and Policy

Same subject as 14.47[J] , 15.2191[J] , 17.399[J] Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-S Credit cannot also be received for 11.267[J] , 15.219[J]

See description under subject 15.2191[J] . Preference to juniors, seniors, and Energy Minors.

11.169 Global Climate Policy and Sustainability

Subject meets with 11.269 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S

Examines climate politics both nationally and globally. Addresses economic growth, environmental preservation, and social equity through the lens of sustainability. Uses various country and regional cases to analyze how sociopolitical, economic and environmental values shape climate policy. Students develop recommendations for making climate policy more effective and sustainable. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 25.

J. Knox-Hayes

11.170 Cities and Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation

Subject meets with 11.270 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S Can be repeated for credit.

Examines climate adaptation and mitigation responses at the city level. Discusses factors of greatest concern in adapting cities to climate change, including infrastructure; energy, food, and water systems; health; housing; and environmental justice. Various city and regional cases are used to analyze how cities are mobilizing to face climate change and integrate core considerations into urban planning. Working on independent case studies, students analyze how cities make urban planning decisions with respect to climate adaptation. In the process, students practice analytical skills to better understand how urban policies are made, and how they can be improved. Students develop recommendations for making climate adaptation more effective and sustainable at the city level. Assignment requirements differ for students completing the graduate version. Limited to 25.

11.171 Indigenous Environmental Planning

Subject meets with 11.271 Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines how Indigenous peoples' relationships to their homelands and local environments has been adversely affected by Western planning. Explores how these relationships have changed over time as American Indians, Alaska Natives, and other groups indigenous to North America and Hawai'i have adapted to new conditions, including exclusion from markets of exchange, overhunting/overfishing, dispossession, petrochemical development, conservation, mainstream environmentalism, and climate change. Seeks to understand current environmental challenges and their roots and discover potential solutions to address these challenges. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

J. Knox-Hayes, L. Susskind

11.173[J] Infrastructure Design for Climate Change

Same subject as 1.103[J] Subject meets with 1.303[J] , 11.273[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor U (Fall) 0-2-4 units

See description under subject 1.103[J] . Enrollment limited; preference to juniors and seniors.

H. Einstein

Laboratories

11.188 introduction to spatial analysis and gis laboratory.

Prereq: None U (Fall, Spring) 3-3-6 units. Institute LAB Credit cannot also be received for 11.205

An introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a tool for visualizing and analyzing spatial data. Explores how GIS can make maps, guide decisions, answer questions, and advocate for change. Class builds toward a project in which students critically apply GIS techniques to an area of interest. Students build data discovery, cartography, and spatial analysis skills while learning to reflect on their positionality within the research design process. Because maps and data are never neutral, the class incorporates discussions of power, ethics, and data throughout as part of a reflective practice. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication provided.

S. Williams, C. D'Ignazio, E. Huntley

Tutorials, Fieldwork, and Internships

11.uar[j] climate and sustainability undergraduate advanced research (new).

Same subject as 1.UAR[J] , 3.UAR[J] , 5.UAR[J] , 12.UAR[J] , 15.UAR[J] , 22.UAR[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor U (Fall, Spring) 2-0-4 units Can be repeated for credit.

See description under subject 1.UAR[J] . Application required; consult MCSC website for more information.

D. Plata, E. Olivetti

11.UR Undergraduate Research

Prereq: None U (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

Undergraduate research opportunities in Urban Studies and Planning. For further information, consult the Departmental Coordinators.

11.URG Undergraduate Research

Prereq: None U (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.THT[J] Thesis Research Design Seminar

Same subject as 4.THT[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) 3-0-9 units Can be repeated for credit.

Designed for students writing a thesis in Urban Studies and Planning or Architecture. Develop research topics, review relevant research and scholarship, frame research questions and arguments, choose an appropriate methodology for analysis, and draft introductory and methodology sections.

11.THU Undergraduate Thesis

Prereq: 11.THT[J] U (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

Program of research leading to the writing of an SB thesis. To be arranged by the student under approved supervision.

11.189-11.190 Urban Fieldwork

Prereq: None U (Fall, Spring) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

Practical application of city and regional planning techniques to towns, cities, and regions, including problems of replanning, redevelopment, and renewal of existing communities. Includes internships, under staff supervision, in municipal and state agencies and departments.

11.191-11.192 Independent Study

Prereq: None U (Fall, IAP, Spring) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

For undergraduates wishing to pursue further study in specialized areas of urban studies or city and regional planning not covered in regular subjects.

11.193-11.194 Supervised Readings

Reading and discussion of topics in urban studies and planning.

11.S03 Special Subject: Transportation Shaping Sustainable Urbanization: Connections with Behavior, Urban Economics and Planning

Prereq: None U (Fall; partial term) 2-0-1 units

Explores changes in the built environment expected from transportation investments, and how they can be used to promote sustainable and equitable cities. Reflects on how notable characteristics of cities can be explained by their historical and current transportation features. Introduces theoretical basis and empirical evidence to analyze the urban transformation autonomous vehicles will bring and how shared mobility services affect travel behavior, and its implications from an urban planning perspective. Lectures interspersed with guest speakers and an optional field trip. Subject can count toward the 6-unit discovery-focused credit limit for first-year students. Licensed for Fall 2023 by the Committee on Curricula. Limited to 18.

F. Duarte, A. Borges Costa

11.S04 Special Subject: Topics in Affordable Housing

Prereq: None U (Spring) 1-0-2 units

Weekly seminar-style discussions on topics in affordable housing, including federal funding programs, homelessness prevention and shelters, local land use and zoning for affordability, innovative housing models/designs, fair housing laws, the history of public housing in the US, and international comparisons. Subject can count toward the 6-unit discovery-focused credit limit for first year students.

 Ezra Haber Glenn

11.S187 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: None U (Fall; second half of term) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

For undergraduates wishing to pursue further study or fieldwork in specialized areas of urban studies or city and regional planning not covered in regular subjects of instruction.

11.S188 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: None U (Fall, IAP) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

11.S189 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

11.s195 special subject: urban studies and planning.

Prereq: None U (Fall, Spring) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.S196-11.S199 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

For undergraduates wishing to pursue further study or fieldwork in specialized areas of urban studies or city and regional planning not covered in regular subjects of instruction. 11.S198 is graded P/D/F.

Master's Core Subjects

11.200 gateway: urban studies and planning 1.

Prereq: None G (Fall) 4-1-7 units

Introduces the theory and practice of planning and urban studies through exploration of the history of the field, case studies, and criticisms of traditional practice.

11.201 Gateway: Urban Studies and Planning 2

Prereq: 11.200 G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 4-1-7 units

Builds on 11.200 by exploring in more detail contemporary planning tools and techniques, as well as case studies of planning and urban studies practice.

11.202 Planning Economics

Prereq: 11.203 G (Fall; second half of term) 3-0-3 units

Students use economic theory tools acquired in 11.203 to understand the mutual processes of individual action and structural constraint and investigate crises in search of opportunities for mitigation and reparation. Investigates a variety of structural crises from throughout the realms of planning, such as: capitalism, climate change, and (in)action; white supremacy, segregation, and gentrification; colonialism, informality, and infrastructure; autocentricity and other legacies of the built environment.

11.203 Microeconomics

Prereq: None G (Fall; first half of term) 3-0-3 units

Students develop a suite of tools from economic theory to understand the mutual processes of individual action and structural constraint. Students apply these tools to human interaction and social decision-making. Builds an understanding of producer theory from the collaborative possibilities and physical constraints that unfold as production is scaled up. Presents consumer theory as the process of individuals doing the best for themselves, their families, and their communities -- subject to the sociostructural constraints under which they operate. Considers alternative frameworks of social welfare, with a specific focus on marginalization and crisis, as well as common policy interventions and their implications under different constructions of welfare.

11.204[J] People and the Planet: Environmental Histories and Engineering

Same subject as IDS.524[J] Subject meets with 11.004[J] , STS.033[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-3-6 units

Explores historical and cultural aspects of complex environmental problems and engineering approaches to sustainable solutions. Introduces quantitative analyses and methodological tools to understand environmental issues that have human and natural components. Demonstrates concepts through a series of historical and cultural analyses of environmental challenges and their engineering responses. Builds writing, quantitative modeling, and analytical skills in assessing environmental systems problems and developing engineering solutions. Through environmental data gathering and analysis, students engage with the challenges and possibilities of engineering in complex, interacting systems, and investigate plausible, symbiotic, systems-oriented solutions. Students taking graduate version complete additional analysis of reading assignments and a more in-depth and longer final paper.

11.205 Introduction to Spatial Analysis and GIS

Prereq: None G (Fall, Spring; first half of term) 2-2-2 units Credit cannot also be received for 11.188

An introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS): a tool for visualizing and analyzing data representing locations and their attributes. GIS is invaluable for planners, scholars, and professionals who shape cities and a political instrument with which activists advocate for change. Class includes exercises to make maps, query databases, and analyze spatial data. Because maps and data are never neutral, the class incorporates discussions of power, ethics, and data throughout as part of a reflective practice. Limited enrollment; preference to first-year MCP students.

11.206 Poverty and Economic Security

Subject meets with 11.006 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: G (Fall) Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered 3-0-9 units

11.220 Quantitative Reasoning and Statistical Methods for Planning I

Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 4-2-6 units

Develops logical, empirically based arguments using statistical techniques and analytic methods. Covers elementary statistics, probability, and other types of quantitative reasoning useful for description, estimation, comparison, and explanation. Emphasizes the use and limitations of analytical techniques in planning practice. Restricted to MCP students.

Department-wide Subjects

11.222 introduction to critical qualitative methods.

Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-3 units

Introduces qualitative methods as an approach to critical inquiry in urban planning research and practice. Emphasizes the importance of historical context, place-specificity, and the experiences and views of individuals as ways of knowing relationships of power and privilege between people, in place, and over time. Explores a range of critical qualitative methods including those used in archival, interview, observational, visual, and case study analysis.

K. Crockett

11.228[J] Collectives: New Forms of Sharing

Same subject as 4.229[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

See description under subject 4.229[J] . Limited to 15.

Consult R. Segal

11.233 Research Design for Policy Analysis and Planning

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

Develops skills in research design for policy analysis and planning. Emphasizes the logic of the research process and its constituent elements. Topics include philosophy of science, question formulation, hypothesis generation and theory construction, data collection techniques (e.g. experimental, survey, interview), ethical issues in research, and research proposal preparation. Limited to doctoral students in Course 11.

11.234 Making Sense: Qualitative Methods for Designers and Planners

Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-3-6 units

Surveys uses of qualitative methods and social theory in urban design and planning research and practice. Topics include observing environments, physical traces, and environmental behavior; asking questions; focused interviews; standardized questionnaires; use of written archival materials; use of visual materials, including photographs, new media, and maps; case studies; and comparative methods. Emphasizes use of each of these skills to collect and make sense of qualitative data in community and institutional settings.

11.236 Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Prereq: None G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

Introduces students to participatory action research (PAR), an approach to research and inquiry that enables communities to examine and address consequential societal problems. Explores theoretical and practical questions at the heart of partnerships between applied social scientists and community partners. Focus includes the history of PAR and action research; debates regarding PAR as a form of applied social science; and practical, political, and ethical questions in the practice of PAR. Guides students through an iterative process for developing their own personal theories of practice. Covers co-designing and co-conducting research with community partners at various stages of the research process .Examines actual cases in which PAR-like methods have been used with greater or lesser success; and interaction with community members, organizations, and individuals who have been involved in PAR collaborations. 

11.238[J] Ethics of Intervention

Same subject as 21A.409[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: G (Fall) Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered 3-0-9 units

An historical and cross-cultural study of the logics and practices of intervention: the ways that individuals, institutions, and governments identify conditions of need or states of emergency within and across borders that require a response. Examines when a response is viewed as obligatory, when is it deemed unnecessary, and by whom; when the intercession is considered fulfilled; and the rationales or assumptions that are employed in assessing interventions. Theories of the state, globalization, and humanitarianism; power, policy, and institutions; gender, race, and ethnicity; and law, ethics, and morality are examined.

11.239 The City in Film

Subject meets with 11.139 Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 2-2-5 units

Surveys important developments in urbanism from 1900 to the present, using film as a lens to explore and interpret aspects of the urban experience in the US and abroad. Topics include industrialization, demographics, diversity, the environment, and the relationship between the community and the individual. Films vary from year to year but always include a balance of classics from the history of film, an occasional experimental/avant-garde film, and a number of more recent, mainstream movies. Students taking undergraduate version complete writing assignments that focus on observation, analysis, and the essay, and give an oral presentation.

11.243 Research Methods in Global Health and Development

Subject meets with 11.143 Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-3-6 units

11.244[J] Race, History, and the Built Environment

Same subject as STS.424[J] Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines how the development of the built environment produces and reproduces conceptions of race - sociobiological theories of human difference. Using historical and cross-cultural cases, tracks the social and political lives of material objects, infrastructures, technologies, and architectures using projects of settler colonialism, nation-building, community development and planning, and in post-conflict and post-disaster settings. Analyzes social theories of race, place, space, and materiality; power, identity, and embodiment; and memory, death, and haunting. Explores how conceptions of belonging, citizenship, and exclusion are represented and designed spatially through analysis of examples, such as the appropriation of land for infrastructure programs, the erasure and commemoration of heritage in public spaces, and the use of the built environment to impose colonial ideologies. Limited to 14 students.

Erica James

11.245[J] DesignX Entrepreneurship

Same subject as 4.245[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (IAP) 4-0-2 units

Students in teams accepted to the MITdesignX accelerator begin work on their ventures in this intense two-week bootcamp. Participants identify the needs and problems that demonstrate the demand for their innovative technology, policy, products, and/or services. They research and investigate various markets and stakeholders pertinent to their ventures, and begin to test their ideas and thesis in real-world interviews and interactions. Subject presented in workshop format, giving teams the chance to jump-start their ventures together with a cohort of people working on ideas that span the realm of design, planning real estate, and the human environment. Registration limited to students accepted to the MITdesignX accelerator in the fall.

S. Gronfeldt, D. Frenchman, G. Rosenzweig

11.246[J] DesignX Accelerator

Same subject as 4.246[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 2-4-6 units

Students continue to work in their venture teams to advance innovative ideas, products, and services oriented to design, planning, and the human environment. Presented in a workshop format with supplementary lectures. Teams are matched with external mentors for additional support in business and product development. At the end of the term, teams pitch their ventures to an audience from across the school and MIT, investors, industry, and cities. Registration limited to students accepted to the MITdesignX accelerator in the fall.

11.250 Transportation Research Design

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, Spring) 2-0-1 units Can be repeated for credit.

Seminar dissects ten transportation studies from head to toe to illustrate how research ideas are initiated, framed, analyzed, evidenced, written, presented, criticized, revised, extended, and published, quoted and applied. Students learn by mimicking and learn by doing, and design and execute their own transportation research. Limited to 20.

11.251 Frontier of Transportation Research

Prereq: None G (Fall, Spring) 1-0-2 units Can be repeated for credit.

Surveys the frontier of transportation research offered by 12 MIT faculty presenting their latest findings, ideas, and innovations. Students write weekly memos to reflect on these talks, make connections to their own research, and give short presentations.

Jinhua Zhao

11.252[J] Design and Development of Games for Learning

Same subject as CMS.863[J] Subject meets with 11.127[J] , CMS.590[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-6-3 units

See description under subject CMS.863[J] .

11.255 Negotiation and Dispute Resolution in the Public Sector

Prereq: None G (Spring) 4-0-8 units

Investigates social conflict and distributional disputes in the public sector. While theoretical aspects of conflict and consensus building are considered, focus is on the practice of negotiation and dispute resolution. Comparisons between unassisted and assisted negotiation are reviewed along with the techniques of facilitation and mediation.

11.256[J] Encounters and Ruptures: Writing About the Modern City

Same subject as 4.256[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-7 units

Through extensive reading and writing, students explore the promise and perils of the variegated city, focusing on topics that demand urgent attention: migration, climate change, inequality, racial injustice, and public space. Class strives to create artful narratives by examining how various forms — essay, memoir, longform journalism, poetry, fiction, film, and photography — illuminate our understanding of cities. Special emphasis on the writer as the reader's advocate and on the indispensability of the writer-editor relationship, with the goal of writing with greater creativity and sophistication for specialized and general interest audiences. Limited to 12 students.

11.257[J] China's Growth: Political Economy, Business, and Urbanization

Same subject as 15.239[J] Subject meets with 11.157[J] , 15.2391[J] Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring; second half of term) 3-0-3 units

11.258 Sustainable Urbanization Research Seminar (New)

Prereq: None G (Fall) 2-0-1 units Can be repeated for credit.

Reviews the seminal as well as latest research on the driving forces of urbanization, real estate markets, urban sustainability in both developed and developing economies. Examines the tensions as well as synergies between urbanization and sustainability, and designs and evaluates policies and business strategies that can enhance the synergies while reduce the tensions. Covers various research topics under the umbrella of urbanization under three modules (sustainable urbanization; sustainable real estate; urbanization in emerging economies) where students study the initiation of an idea to its publication, including but not limited to, analyzing, framing, writing and critiquing as parts of the process. Sessions are organized as a semi-structured dialogue.

11.259 Entrepreneurial Negotiation

Subject meets with 11.159 Prereq: None G (Fall; partial term) 1-3-2 units

11.260 Sustainable Development and Institutions

Prereq: None G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Explores the theory and application of the principles of sustainable development as they relate to organizational change management, decision-making processes, goal setting methodology and solution development. Leverages the MIT campus as a living laboratory to gain unique insight into the change management and solution development process. Limited to 18.

11.263[J] Urban Last-Mile Logistics

Same subject as 1.263[J] , SCM.293[J] Prereq: SCM.254 or permission of instructor G (Spring; second half of term) 2-0-4 units

See description under subject SCM.293[J] .

M.  Winkenbach

11.267[J] Global Energy: Politics, Markets, and Policy

Same subject as 15.219[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units Credit cannot also be received for 11.167[J] , 14.47[J] , 15.2191[J] , 17.399[J]

See description under subject 15.219[J] .

11.268 Laws of the Land: Land Use and Environmental Law and Policy (New)

Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Fall) 3-0-3 units

Environmental justice and climate change are pressing contemporary concerns.  Crucial dimensions of the exposure of households to environmental harms and benefits are determined by land use and environmental laws.  Land use and environmental laws are also central to reducing carbon emissions and building environmentally sustainable and resilient communities.  Introduces students to the legal and social science dimension of these two crucial areas of law that is well-covered in the current curriculum. Enrollment limited to 30.

11.269 Global Climate Policy and Sustainability

Subject meets with 11.169 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines climate politics both nationally and globally. Addresses economic growth, environmental preservation, and social equity through the lens of sustainability. Uses various country and regional cases to analyze how sociopolitical, economic and environmental values shape climate policy. Students develop recommendations for making climate policy more effective and sustainable. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 25.

11.270 Cities and Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation

Subject meets with 11.170 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units Can be repeated for credit.

11.271 Indigenous Environmental Planning

Subject meets with 11.171 Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines how Indigenous peoples' relationships to their homelands and local environments has been adversely affected by Western planning. Explores how these relationships have changed over time as American Indians, Alaska Natives, and other groups indigenous to North America and Hawai'i have adapted to new conditions, including exclusion from markets of exchange, overhunting/overfishing, dispossession, petrochemical development, conservation, mainstream environmentalism, and climate change. Seeks to understand current environmental challenges and their roots and discover potential solutions to address these challenges. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 25.

11.273[J] Infrastructure Design for Climate Change

Same subject as 1.303[J] Subject meets with 1.103[J] , 11.173[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 0-2-4 units

See description under subject 1.303[J] .

11.274 Cybersecurity Clinic

Subject meets with 11.074 Prereq: None G (Fall, Spring) 2-4-6 units

Program Group Subjects

11.301[j] introduction to urban design and development.

Same subject as 4.252[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines the physical and social structure of cities and ways they can be changed. Includes significant thinkers in urban form, 20th-century American city design, urban design and society, global urban design, and design of neighborhoods and streets. Core lectures are supplemented by student papers examining the relationship of contemporary projects to history and theory, and factors of high quality global urban design and development. Guest speakers present cases involving current projects or research illustrating scope and methods of urban design theory and practice. Intended for those seeking an introduction to fundamental knowledge of theory and praxis in city design and development.

11.302[J] Urban Design Politics

Same subject as 4.253[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines ways that urban design contributes to distribution of political power and resources in cities. Investigates the nature of relations between built form and political purposes through close study of public and private sector design commissions and planning processes that have been clearly motivated by political pressures, as well as more tacit examples. Lectures and discussions focus on cases from both developed and developing countries.

11.303[J] Real Estate Development Studio

Same subject as 4.254[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 6-0-12 units

Focuses on the synthesis of urban, mixed-use real estate projects, including the integration of physical design and programming with finance and marketing. Interdisciplinary student teams analyze how to maximize value across multiple dimensions in the process of preparing professional development proposals for sites in US cities and internationally. Reviews emerging real estate products and innovative developments to provide a foundation for studio work. Two major projects are interspersed with lectures and field trips. Integrates skills and knowledge in the MSRED program; also open to other students interested in real estate development by permission of the instructors.

11.304[J] Site and Environmental Systems Planning

Same subject as 4.255[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 6-0-9 units

Introduces a range of practical approaches involved in evaluating and planning sites within the context of natural and cultural systems. Develops the knowledge and skills to analyze and plan a site for development through exercises and an urban design project. Topics include land inventory, urban form, spatial organization of uses, parcelization, design of roadways, grading, utility systems, off-site impacts, and landscape strategies.

E. Ben-Joseph, M. A. Ocampo

11.305 Doing Good by Doing Well: Planning and Development Case Studies that Promote both the Public Good and Real Estate Value

Prereq: None G (Fall) 2-0-1 units

Seminar studies how the messy and complex forces of politics, planning and the real estate market have collectively shaped Boston's urban fabric and skyline in the last two decades. Using some of the city's most important real estate development proposals as case studies, students dissect and analyze Boston's negotiated development review and permitting process to understand what it takes beyond a great development concept and a sound financial pro forma to earn community and political support. Throughout the term, students identify strategies for success and pitfalls for failure within this intricate approval process, as well as how these lessons can be generalized and applied to other cities and real estate markets.

11.307[J] China Urban Design Studio

Same subject as 4.173[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 0-21-0 units

Design studio that includes architects, urban designers, and city planners working in teams on a contemporary development project of importance in China, particularly in transitional, deindustrializing cities. Students analyze conditions, explore alternatives, and synthesize architecture, city design, and implementation plans. Lectures and brief study tours expose students to history and contemporary issues of urbanism in China. Offered every other spring at MIT in parallel with urban design studio at Tsinghua University, Beijing, involving students and faculty from both schools. Field visit to China will occur in January prior to studio. Limited to 10.

11.308[J] Ecological Urbanism Seminar

Same subject as 4.213[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Weds the theory and practice of city design and planning as a means of adaptation with the insights of ecology and other environmental disciplines. Presents ecological urbanism as critical to the future of the city and its design, as it provides a framework for addressing challenges that threaten humanity — such as climate change, rising sea level, and environmental and social justice — while fulfilling human needs for health, safety, welfare, meaning, and delight. Applies a historical and theoretical perspective to the solution of real-world challenges.  Enrollment limited.

11.309[J] Sensing Place: Photography as Inquiry

Same subject as 4.215[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Explores photography as a disciplined way of seeing, and as a medium of inquiry and of expressing ideas. Readings, observations, and photographs form the basis of discussions on landscape, light, significant detail, place, poetics, narrative, and how photography can inform research, design and planning, among other issues. Recommended for students who want to employ visual methods in their theses.  Enrollment limited.

11.312 Engaging Community: Models and Methods for Strengthening Democracy

Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines the demographic complexity of cities and their fundamental design challenges for planners and other professions responsible for engaging the public. Working with clients, participants learn design principles for creating public engagement practices necessary for building inclusive civic infrastructure in cities. Participants also have the opportunity to review and practice strategies, techniques, and methods for engaging communities in demographically complex settings.

C. McDowell

11.313 Advanced Research Workshop in Landscape and Urbanism

Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

In-depth research workshop on pressing socio-economic and environmental design issue of our time, includes discussion and practices with real-world stakeholders experimenting with new development typologies and technologies. The goal is to generate well-grounded, design-based solutions and landscape infrastructural responses to the physical design problem being addressed. Specific focus and practicum status is adjusted on a year-to-year basis.

11.315[J] Disaster Resilient Design

Same subject as 4.217[J] Subject meets with 4.218 Prereq: None G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-6 units

See description under subject 4.217[J] . Limited to 15.

Consult M. Mazereeuw

11.318 Senseable Cities

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Studies how ubiquitous and real-time information technology can help us to understand and improve cities and regions. Explores the impact of integrating real-time information technology into the built environment. Introduces theoretical foundations of ubiquitous computing. Provides technical tools for tactile development of small-scale projects. Limited to 24.

11.320 Digital City Design Workshop

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Students develop proposals, at the city and neighborhood scales, that integrate urban design, planning, and digital technology. Aims to create more efficient, responsive, and livable urban places and systems that combine physical form with digital media, sensing, communications, and data analysis. Students conduct field research, build project briefs, and deliver designs or prototypes, while supported by lectures, case studies, and involvement from experts and representatives of subject cities. Limited to 12.

11.321 Data Science and Real Estate

Introduces the principles of data science and how data science is impacting cities and real estate, with a combination of fundamental lectures, guest speakers, and use cases. Explores how data science has been adopted by the real estate industry — from developers to city planners. Presents practical skills in data science and provides the opportunity for students to produce their own work and practice basic coding skills applied to real estate.

11.323 International Real Estate Transactions

Prereq: None G (Spring; second half of term) 3-0-3 units

Focuses on analyzing a variety of unique international real estate investment and development transactions. Blends real estate investing and development decision-making with discussion-based learning from a multidisciplinary standpoint. Seeks to facilitate a richer understanding of domestic (US) real estate transaction concepts by contextualizing them in the general analytical framework underpinning international real estate investment decision-making.

M. Srivastava

11.324 Modeling Pedestrian Activity in Cities

Subject meets with 11.024 Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

11.325 Technological Change & Innovation for Real Estate and Cities

Prereq: None G (Fall; second half of term) 2-0-4 units

Seeks to examine the technological change and innovation that is disrupting the foundation of how we create the built environment. Through a series of educational workshops, students scout, catalog, and track technologies by looking at new real estate uses, products, processes, and organizational strategies at MIT labs and around the globe. Participants contribute to an interactive web tool, "The Tech Tracker," which provides technology intelligence to students and real estate professionals to enhance their understanding of technological progress.

F. Duarte, J. Scott

11.328[J] Urban Design Skills: Observing, Interpreting, and Representing the City

Same subject as 4.240[J] Prereq: None G (Fall; first half of term) 4-2-2 units

Introduces methods for observing, interpreting, and representing the urban environment. Students draw on their senses and develop their ability to deduce, question, and test conclusions about how the built environment is designed, used, and valued. The interrelationship of built form, circulation networks, open space, and natural systems are a key focus. Supplements existing classes that cover theory and history of city design and urban planning and prepares students without design backgrounds with the fundamentals of physical planning. Intended as a foundation for 11.329[J] .

E. Ben-Joseph, M. Ocampo 

11.329[J] Advanced Urban Design Skills: Observing, Interpreting, and Representing the City

Same subject as 4.248[J] Prereq: 11.328[J] or permission of instructor G (Fall; second half of term) 4-2-4 units

Through a studio-based course in planning and urban design, builds on the foundation acquired in 11.328[J] to engage in creative exploration of how design contributes to resilient, just, and vibrant urban places. Through the planning and design of two projects, students creatively explore spatial ideas and utilize various digital techniques to communicate their design concepts, giving form to strategic thinking. Develops approaches and techniques to evaluate the plural structure of the built environment and offer propositions that address policies and regulations as well as the values, behaviors, and wishes of the different users.

E. Ben-Joseph, M. Ocampo

11.330[J] The Making of Cities

Same subject as 4.241[J] Prereq: 11.001[J] , 11.301[J] , or permission of instructor G (Spring) Units arranged

See description under subject 4.241[J] .

L. Jacobi, R. Segal

11.332[J] Urban Design Studio

Same subject as 4.163[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

See description under subject 4.163[J] .

11.333[J] Urban Design Seminar: Perspectives on Contemporary Practice

Same subject as 4.244[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 2-0-7 units

Examines innovations in urban design practice occurring through the work of leading practitioners in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Features lectures by major national and global practitioners in urban design. Projects and topics vary based on term and speakers but may cover architectural urbanism, landscape and ecology, arts and culture, urban design regulation and planning agencies, and citywide and regional design. Focuses on analysis and synthesis of themes discussed in presentations and discussions.

11.334[J] Advanced Seminar in Landscape and Urbanism

Same subject as 4.264[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Explores theories, practices, and emerging trends in the fields of landscape architecture and urbanism, such as systemic design, landscape urbanism, engineered nature, drosscapes, urban biodiversity, urban mobility, megaregions, and urban agriculture. Lectures, readings, and guest speakers present a wide array of multi-disciplinary topics, including current works from P-REX lab. Students conduct independent and group research that is future-oriented.

11.337[J] Urban Design Ideals and Action

Same subject as 4.247[J] Prereq: None G (Fall) 2-0-7 units

Examines the relationship between urban design ideals, urban design action, and the built environment through readings, discussions, presentations, and papers. Analyzes the diverse design ideals that influence cities and settlements, and investigates how urban designers use them to shape urban form. Provides a critical understanding of the diverse formal methods used to intervene creatively in both developed and developing contexts, especially pluralistic and informal built environments.

11.338 Urban Design Studio

Prereq: 11.328[J] or permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Fall) Units arranged

Examines the rehabilitation and re-imagination of a city, region, or territory. Analyzes human settlement at multiple scales: regional, citywide, neighborhood, and individual dwellings. Aims to shape innovative design solutions, enhance social amenity, and improve economic equity through strategic and creative geographical, urban design and architectural thinking. Intended for students with backgrounds in architecture, community development, urban design, and physical planning. Limited to 12 via application and lottery.

11.339 Downtown

Subject meets with 11.026[J] , 21H.321[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-7 units

Seminar on downtown in US cities from the late 19th century to the late 20th. Emphasis on downtown as an idea, place, and cluster of interests, on the changing character of downtown, and on recent efforts to rebuild it. Topics considered include subways, skyscrapers, highways, urban renewal, and retail centers. Focus on readings, discussions, and individual research projects. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.344[J] Innovative Project Delivery in the Public and Private Sectors

Same subject as 1.472[J] Prereq: None G (Spring; first half of term) 2-0-4 units

Develops a strong strategic understanding of how best to deliver various types of projects in the built environment. Examines the compatibility of various project delivery methods, consisting of organizations, contracts, and award methods, with certain types of projects and owners. Six methods examined: traditional general contracting; construction management; multiple primes; design-build; turnkey; and build-operate-transfer. Includes lectures, case studies, guest speakers, and a team project to analyze a case example.

C. M. Gordon

11.345[J] Entrepreneurship in the Built Environment

Same subject as 1.462[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall; first half of term) 2-0-4 units

Introduction to entrepreneurship and how it shapes the world we live in. Through experiential learning in a workshop setting, students start to develop entrepreneurial mindset and skills. Through a series of workshops, students are introduced to the concept of Venture Design to create new venture proposals for the built environment as a method to understand the role of the entrepreneur in the fields of design, planning, real estate, and other related industries.

S. Gronfeldt, G. Rosenzweig

11.350 Sustainable Real Estate: Economics & Business

Offers insight into tension and synergy between sustainability and the real estate industry. Considers why sustainability matters for real estate, how real estate can contribute to sustainability and remain profitable, and what investment and market opportunities exist for sustainable real estate products and how they vary across asset classes. Lectures combine economic and business insights and tools to understand the challenges and opportunities of sustainable real estate. Provides a framework to understand issues in sustainability in real estate and examine economic mechanisms, technological advances, business models, and investment and financing strategies available to promote sustainability. Discusses buildings as basic physical assets; cities as the context where buildings interact with the built environment, policies, and urban systems; and portfolios as sustainable real estate investment vehicles in capital markets. Enrollment for MSRED, MCP, and MBA students is prioritized.

Zheng, Siqi; Tan, Zhengzhen

11.351 Real Estate Ventures I: Negotiating Development-Phase Agreements

Focuses on key business and legal issues within the principal agreements used to control, entitle, capitalize, and construct a mixed-use real estate development. Through the lens of the real estate developer and its counter-parties, students identify, discuss, and negotiate the most important business issues in right of entry, purchase and sale, development, and joint-venture agreements, as well as a construction contract and construction loan agreement. Students work closely with attorneys who specialize in the construction of such agreements and with students from area law schools and Columbia University and New York University. Enrollment limited to approximately 25; preference to MSRED students. No listeners.

W. T. McGrath

11.352 Real Estate Ventures II: Negotiating Leases, Financings, and Restructurings

Focuses on key business and legal issues within the principal agreements used to lease, finance, and restructure a real estate venture. Through the lens of the real estate developer and its counter-parties, students identify, discuss and negotiate the most important business issues in office and retail leases, and permanent loan, mezzanine loan, inter-creditor, standstill/forbearance, and loan modification (workout) agreements. Students work closely with attorneys who specialize in the construction of such agreements and with students from area law schools and New York University and Columbia University. Single-asset real estate bankruptcy and the federal income tax consequences of debt restructuring are also addressed. Limited to 25; preference to MSRED students; no Listeners.

11.353[J] Securitization of Mortgages and Other Assets

Same subject as 15.429[J] Prereq: 11.431[J] , 15.401 , or permission of instructor G (Spring; second half of term) 3-0-3 units

Investigates the economics and finance of securitization. Considers the basic mechanics of structuring deals for various asset-backed securities. Investigates the pricing of pooled assets, using Monte Carlo and other option pricing techniques, as well as various trading strategies used in these markets. Limited to 55.

11.355 International Housing Economics and Finance

Prereq: 11.202 , 11.203 , 14.01 , or permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-6 units Credit cannot also be received for 11.145

Presents a theory of comparative differences in international housing outcomes. Introduces institutional differences in ways housing expenditures are financed, and economic determinants of housing outcomes (construction costs, land values, housing quality, ownership rates). Analyzes flow of funds to and from the different national housing finance sectors. Develops an understanding of the greater financial and macroeconomic implications of mortgage credit sector, and how policies affect ways housing asset fluctuations impact national economies. Considers perspective of investors in international real estate markets and risks and rewards involved. Draws on lessons from international comparative approach, applies them to economic and finance policies at the local, state/provincial, and federal levels within country of choice. Meets with 11.145 when offered concurrently. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.356 Healthy Cities: Assessing Health Impacts of Policies and Plans

Subject meets with 11.156 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

11.360 Community Growth and Land Use Planning

Seminar, workshops, and fieldwork on strategies to use municipal land use regulations to shape urban growth and equity. Practicum workshop builds skills in civic engagement, policy-relevant research, zoning regulations, and physical design and planning. The workshop begins with implementation of qualitative and quantitative research into the existing built environment, social, economic, and political context. It continues with the planning, design, and implementation of community engagement strategies to shape goals and vision for the projects. The practicum then explores land use scenarios, design and innovative zoning and regulatory techniques, to improve equity in the areas of housing, environment, economic development, mobility, and the public realm. Projects arranged with small teams serving municipal clients experiencing pressures of urban growth and change in Massachusetts. Preference to MCP second year students.

11.365 Sustainable Urbanization Practicum

Prereq: None G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Working with a city development client (city government/real estate developer/NGO) in a fast-urbanizing region, practicum provides students an opportunity to synthesize policy, planning or urban science solutions towards sustainable urbanization, within the constraints of a client-based project. Priority is given to MCP students.

11.367 Land Use Law and Politics: Race, Place, and Law

Subject meets with 11.067 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Explores conceptions of spatial justice and introduces students to basic principles of US law and legal analysis, focused on land use, equal protection, civil rights, fair housing, and local government law, in order to examine who should control how land is used. Examines the rights of owners of land and the types of regulatory and market-based tools that are available to control land use. Explores basic principles of civil rights and anti-discrimination law and focuses on particular civil rights problems associated with the land use regulatory system, such as exclusionary zoning, residential segregation, the fair distribution of undesirable land uses, and gentrification. Introduces basic skills of statutory drafting and interpretation. Assignments differ for those taking the graduate version.

11.368 Environmental Justice: Law and Policy

Subject meets with 11.148 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

11.371[J] Sustainable Energy

Same subject as 1.818[J] , 2.65[J] , 10.391[J] , 22.811[J] Subject meets with 2.650[J] , 10.291[J] , 22.081[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-1-8 units

See description under subject 22.811[J] .

M. W. Golay

11.373[J] Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy

Same subject as 12.885[J] Subject meets with 12.385 Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-6 units

See description under subject 12.885[J] .

S. Solomon, J. Knox-Hayes

11.381 Infrastructure Systems in Theory and Practice

Prereq: ( 14.01 and ( 11.202 or 11.203 )) or permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines theories of infrastructure from science and technology studies, history, economics, and anthropology in order to understand the prospects for change for many new and existing infrastructure systems. Examines how these theories are then implemented within systems in the modern city, including but not limited to, energy, water, transportation, and telecommunications infrastructure. Seminar is conducted with intensive group research projects, in-class discussions and debates.

11.382 Water Diplomacy: The Science, Policy, and Politics of Managing Shared Resources

Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines the history and dynamics of international environmental treaty-making, or what is called environmental diplomacy. Emphasizes climate change and other atmospheric, marine resource, global waste management and sustainability-related treaties and the problems of implementing them. Reviews the legal, economic, and political dynamics of managing shared resources, involving civil society on a global basis, and enforcing transboundary agreements. Focuses especially on principles from international relations, international law, environmental management, and negotiation theory as they relate to common-pool resource management.

11.383[J] People and Profits: Shaping the Future of Work

Same subject as 15.662[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-1-8 units

See description under subject 15.662[J] .

A. Stansbury

11.387 Environmental Finance and Political Economy

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Examines the sociopolitical, cultural and economic dimensions of the financialization of environmental goods and services. Provides an introduction to key financial terms, practices, and institutions; analyzes the logics and origins of environmental finance, as well as the operation and implications of particular systems such as carbon-trading, REDD and ecosystem service pricing and swapping. Limited to 15.

11.388[J] Dimensions of Geoengineering

Same subject as 1.850[J] , 5.000[J] , 10.600[J] , 12.884[J] , 15.036[J] , 16.645[J] Prereq: None G (Fall; first half of term) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-4 units

See description under subject 5.000[J] . Limited to 100.

J. Deutch, M. Zuber

11.401 Introduction to Housing, Community, and Economic Development

Subject meets with 11.041 Prereq: None G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

11.402 Urban Politics: Race and Political Change

Examines the place of US cities in political theory and practice. Particular attention given to contemporary issues of racial polarization, demographic change, poverty, sprawl, and globalization. Specific cities are a focus for discussion.

J. P. Thompson

11.403 Urban China Research Seminar

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-7 units Can be repeated for credit.

Examines the behavioral foundations and key policy issues of urban development, real estate markets, and sustainability in China. Discusses urban agglomeration economies, place-based investment, and urban vibrancy; economic geography of innovation and entrepreneurship; real estate dynamics and housing policies; land use and transportation; and urban quality of life and green cities, focusing on China but with some international comparisons.

11.404 Housing Policy and Planning in the US and Abroad

Explores the policy tools and planning techniques used to formulate and implement housing strategies at local, state and federal levels. Topics include America's housing finance system and the causes of instability in mortgage markets; economic and social inequity in access to affordable housing; approaches to meeting community housing needs through local and state planning programs; programs for addressing homelessness; and emerging ideas about sustainable development and green building related to housing development and renovation. Introduces comparative policy approaches from other countries.

11.405 Political Economy & Society

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-6 units

Focuses on the connection (or not) between mind (theory) and matter (lived experience). Examines basic tenets of classical and recent political economic theories and their explication in ideas of market economies, centrally planned economies, social market economies, and co-creative economies. Assesses theories according to their relation to the lived experiences of people in communities and workplaces.

11.407 Tools and Techniques for Inclusive Economic Development

Subject meets with 11.107 Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

Introduces tools and techniques in economic development planning. Extensive use of data collection, analysis, and display techniques. Students build interpretive intuition skills through user experience design activities and develop a series of memos summarizing the results of their data analysis. These are aggregated into a final report, and include the tools developed over the semester. Students taking graduate version will complete modified assignments focused on developing computer applications.

11.409 The Institutions of Modern Capitalism: States and Markets

Prereq: None G (Fall) 2-0-10 units

Investigates the relationship between states and markets in the evolution of modern capitalism. Critically assesses the rise of what Karl Polanyi and Albert Hirschman have referred to as "market society:" a powerful conceptual framework that views the development of modern capitalism not as an outcome of deterministic economic and technological forces, but rather as the result of contingent social and political processes. Exposes students to a range of conceptual tools and analytic frameworks through which to understand the politics of economic governance and to consider the extent to which societal actors can challenge its limits and imagine alternative possibilities. Sub-themes vary from year to year and have focused on racial capitalism, markets and morality, urban futures, and the global financial crisis. Limited to 25.

11.411 The Political Economy of Planning

Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

Introduces students to key planning ideas and practices that shape the political economy of planning: the way that planning interventions generate distributional effects that create winners and losers across different spatial and temporal scales. Highlights ways in which planning interventions seek to order society and shape spaces, as well as the ways these efforts have been contested and resisted. Takes a global and comparative perspective, surveying planning ideas and experiences across diverse contexts. Develops analytic tools to understand the broad field of planning theory and the asymmetries of power that these imply in planning practice. Planning is a complex and multifaceted set of endeavors, and as such the class is interdisciplinary, drawing from planning theory and history as well as sociology, political science, geography, history, and the design disciplines.

11.413 The Economic Approach to Cities and Environmental Sustainability

Subject meets with 11.113 Prereq: 11.220 , 14.300 , or permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units Can be repeated for credit.

11.422[J] Law, Technology, and Public Policy

Same subject as 15.655[J] , IDS.435[J] Subject meets with 11.122[J] , IDS.066[J] Prereq: None G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

See description under subject IDS.435[J] .

11.427[J] Labor Markets and Employment Policy

Same subject as 15.677[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

See description under subject 15.677[J] . Preference to graduate and PhD students.

11.429[J] Real Estate Markets: Macroeconomics

Same subject as 15.022[J] Prereq: 11.431[J] or permission of instructor G (Spring; first half of term) 3-0-3 units

Applies the latest economic thinking and research to the task of analyzing aggregate real estate market time series, assessing risk, and developing forecasts. Presents the premise that because of capital durability and construction lags, real estate markets exhibit some degree of mean reversion and as such are at least partially predictable. Examines the extent and causes of market volatility across different markets and types of property. Long-term aggregate trends impacting the real estate sector, from demographics to technology, discussed. Limited to 30.

11.430[J] Leadership in Real Estate

Same subject as 15.941[J] Prereq: None G (Fall; first half of term) 3-0-3 units

Designed to help students deepen their understanding of leadership and increase self-awareness. They reflect on their authentic leadership styles and create goals and a learning plan to develop their capabilities. They also participate in activities to strengthen their "leadership presence" - the ability to authentically connect with people's hearts and minds. Students converse with classmates and industry leaders to learn from their insights, experiences, and advice. Limited to 15.

11.431[J] Real Estate Finance and Investment

Same subject as 15.426[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 4-0-8 units

Concepts and techniques for analyzing financial decisions in commercial property development and investment. Topics include property income streams, discounted cash flow, equity valuation, leverage and income tax considerations, development projects, and joint ventures. An introduction to real estate capital markets as a source of financing is also provided. Limited to graduate students.

11.433[J] Real Estate Economics

Same subject as 15.021[J] Prereq: 14.01 , 15.010 , or 15.011 G (Fall) 4-0-8 units

Develops an understanding of the fundamental economic factors that shape the market for real property, as well as the influence of capital markets in asset pricing. Analyzes of housing as well as commercial real estate. Covers demographic analysis, regional growth, construction cycles, urban land markets, and location theory as well as recent technology impacts. Exercises and modeling techniques for measuring and predicting property demand, supply, vacancy, rents, and prices.

11.435 Mixed-Income Housing Development

Prereq: None G (Spring; first half of term) 3-0-3 units

Provides an overview of affordable and mixed-income housing development for students who wish to understand the fundamental issues and requirements of urban scale housing development, and the process of planning, financing and developing such housing. Students gain practical experience assembling a mixed-income housing development proposal.

L. Reid, W. Monson

11.437 Financing Economic Development and Housing

Subject meets with 11.137 Prereq: None G (Spring) 4-0-8 units

11.438 Economic Development Planning

Prereq: 11.203 , 11.220 , and permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Focuses on the policy tools and planning techniques used to formulate and implement local economic development strategies. Includes an overview of economic development theory, discussion of major policy areas and practices employed to influence local economic development, a review of analytic tools to assess local economies and how to formulate strategy. Coursework includes formulation of a local economic development strategy for a client. Limited to 15.

11.439 Revitalizing Urban Main Streets

Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Fall) 4-0-11 units

Workshop explores the integration of economic development and physical planning interventions to revitalize urban commercial districts. Covers: an overview of the causes of urban business district decline, revitalization challenges, and the strategies to address them; the planning tools used to understand and assess urban Main Streets from both physical design and economic development perspectives; and the policies, interventions, and investments used to foster urban commercial revitalization. Students apply the theories, tools and interventions discussed in class to preparing a formal neighborhood commercial revitalization plan for a client business district. Limited to 15.

11.440 Housing and Social Stratification in the United States

Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Investigates how housing — markets, policies, and individual and collective actions — stratifies society. Students develop structural frameworks to understand the processes of stratification. Grounding work and research in history, students identify the ways that housing markets and housing market interventions reflect, reinforce, and (occasionally) combat social inequities. Through extensive writing and rewriting, students frame their work in terms of overlapping crises, including gentrification, flight, shortage, and homelessness.

D. M. Bunten

11.441 Planning, Economic Development, and Municipal Public Finance

Explores the relationship between municipal planning initiatives and local public finance. Introduces a variety of tools, including annual fiscal year budgeting, development of capital improvement plans, user fees, and local property taxation. Municipal powers to levy taxes on items such as meals, hotel rooms, and sales and their effects on land use decisions are analyzed. Tools for economic development, such as tax increment finance, explored in the context of the potential benefits and drawbacks of such tools for a local economy. Also explores how planners can encourage more inclusive budgeting decisions through tools such as participatory budgeting. Students complete a final project on a municipal finance tool and its relationship to local planning goals.

11.442 Geography of the Global Economy

Subject meets with 11.142 Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

11.449 Decarbonizing Urban Mobility

Subject meets with 11.149 Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-3-6 units

11.450 Real Estate Development Building Systems

Prereq: None G (Fall; first half of term) 2-0-1 units

Provides students with a concise overview of the range of building systems that are encountered in professional commercial real estate development practice in the USA. Focuses on the relationship between real estate product types, building systems, and the factors that real estate development professionals must consider when evaluating these products and systems for a specific development project. Surveys commercial building technology including Foundation, Structural, MEP/FP, Envelope, and Interiors systems and analyzes the factors that lead development professionals to select specific systems for specific product types. One or more field trips to active construction sites may be scheduled during non-class hours based on student availability.

11.452 Planning against Evictions and Displacement

Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: G (Spring) Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered 3-0-9 units

Combines state-of-the-art research on evictions and displacement globally (in the context of the global crisis of evictions, land grabbing, and gentrification) with the study of policy and practical responses to displacement, assisted by selected case studies. First half covers explanations about the mechanisms and drivers of displacement, while the second half introduces and evaluates policy and legal responses developed by many actors. Analyzes the use of UN and national standards on displacement as well as the use of tools such as the Eviction Impact Assessment Tool. Limited to 15 graduate students.

11.454 Big Data, Visualization, and Society

Subject meets with 11.154 Prereq: None G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units Credit cannot also be received for 6.8530 , 6.C35[J] , 6.C85[J] , 11.154 , 11.C35[J] , 11.C85[J]

11.C85[J] Interactive Data Visualization and Society

Same subject as 6.C85[J] Subject meets with 6.C35[J] , 11.C35[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-1-8 units Credit cannot also be received for 6.8530 , 11.154 , 11.454

See description under subject 6.C85[J] .

11.457 More than Data: Smart Cities, Big Data, Civic Technology and Policy

Prereq: None G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-6 units

Discussions of future directions in the 'smart cities' debate. Begins by framing the current smart city with past trends such as the efficient city movement of the 1930s and the Modernist city of the 1950s and 60s. Examines current trends in big data, civic apps, Code for America, the open data movement, DIY data collections devices, and their policy impacts.

11.458 Crowd Sourced City: Civic Tech Prototyping

Subject meets with 11.138 Prereq: None G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

11.461[J] Technocracy

Same subject as STS.463[J] Prereq: None G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

See description under subject STS.463[J] .

11.466[J] Technology, Globalization, and Sustainable Development

Same subject as 1.813[J] , 15.657[J] , IDS.437[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

See description under subject IDS.437[J] .

11.469 Urban Sociology in Theory and Practice

Introduction to core writings in urban sociology. Explores the nature and changing character of the city and the urban experience, providing context for the development of urban studies research and planning skills. Topics include the changing nature of community, neighborhood effects, social capital and networks, social stratification, feminist theory and critical race theory, and the interaction of social structure and political power. Subject will take place in the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk with half of the class from MIT and half of the class from MCI-Norfolk. Limited to 25.

11.472[J] D-Lab: Development

Same subject as EC.781[J] Subject meets with 11.025[J] , EC.701[J] Prereq: None G (Fall) 3-2-7 units

See description under subject EC.781[J] . Enrollment limited by lottery; must attend first class session.

S. L. Hsu, A. B. Smith, B. Sanyal

11.474 D-Lab: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Subject meets with EC.715 Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Focuses on disseminating Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) innovations in low-income countries and underserved communities worldwide. Structured around project-based learning, lectures, discussions, and student-led tutorials. Emphasizes core WASH principles, appropriate and sustainable technologies at household and community scales, urban challenges worldwide, culture-specific solutions, lessons from start-ups, collaborative partnerships, and social marketing. Mentored term project entails finding and implementing a viable solution focused on education/training; a technology, policy or plan; a marketing approach; and/or behavior change. Guest lecturers present case studies, emphasizing those developed and disseminated by MIT faculty, practitioners, students, and alumni. Field trips scheduled during class time, with optional field trips on weekends. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 20.

S. E. Murcott, S. L. Hsu

11.477[J] Urban Energy Systems and Policy

Same subject as 1.286[J] Subject meets with 11.165 Prereq: 11.203 , 14.01 , or permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

Examines efforts in developing and advanced nations and regions. Examines key issues in the current and future development of urban energy systems, such as technology, use, behavior, regulation, climate change, and lack of access or energy poverty. Case studies on a diverse sampling of cities explore how prospective technologies and policies can be implemented. Includes intensive group research projects, discussion, and debate.

11.478 Behavioral Science, AI, and Urban Mobility

Subject meets with 11.158 Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

11.480 Urbanization and Development

Examines developmental dynamics of rapidly urbanizing locales, with a special focus on the developing world. Case studies from India, China, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa form the basis for discussion of social, spatial, political and economic changes in cities spurred by the decline of industry, the rise of services, and the proliferation of urban mega projects. Emphasizes the challenges of growing urban inequality, environmental risk, citizen displacement, insufficient housing, and the lack of effective institutions for metropolitan governance. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.484 Project Appraisal in Developing Countries

Covers techniques of financial analysis of investment expenditures, as well as the economic and distributive appraisal of development projects. Critical analysis of these tools in the political economy of international development is discussed. Topics include appraisal's role in the project cycle, planning under conditions of uncertainty, constraints in data quality and the limits of rational analysis, and the coordination of an interdisciplinary appraisal team. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Enrollment limited; preference to majors.

11.485 Southern Urbanisms

Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: G (Fall) Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered 2-0-10 units

Guides students in examining implicit and explicit values of diversity offered in "Southern" knowledge bases, theories, and practices of urban production. With a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, considers why the South-centered location of the estimated global urban population boom obligates us to examine how cities work as they do, and why Western-informed urban theory and planning scholarship may be ill-suited to provide guidance on urban development there. Examines the "rise of the rest" and its implications for the making and remaking of expertise and norms in planning practice. Students engage with seminal texts from leading authors of Southern urbanism and critical themes, including the rise of Southern theory, African urbanism, Chinese international cooperation, Brazilian urban diplomacy, and the globally-driven commodification of urban real estate.

G. Carolini 

11.486 Peace and Conflict Geographies

Explores the spatialization of conflict and peace from perspectives within the humanities and social sciences. Examines claims on territory, resources, and homeland; traces the legacies of violence in landscapes both personal and public; considers the use of planning and architecture to build peace; and attends to experiences of displacement and dispossession. Discusses how conflict and peace geographies provide insight into various scales of power and repair that shape how individuals live together.

11.487 Budgeting and Finance for the Public Sector

Subject meets with 11.147 Prereq: None G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

11.490 Law and Development

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-10 units

Examines the role of law in development and introduces economic and legal theories. Topics include formality/informality of property, contracts and bargaining in the shadow of the law, institutions for transparency and accountability, legitimation of law, sequencing of legal reform, and international economic law aspects. Studies the roles of property rights in economic development, the judiciary and the bureaucracy in development, and law in aid policy. Includes selected country case studies. Limited to 15.

11.493 Property and Land Use Law for Planners

Examines legal and institutional arrangements for the establishment, transfer, and control over property and land under American and selected comparative systems, including India and South Africa. Focuses on key issues of property and land use law regarding planning and economic development. Emphasizes just and efficient resource use; institutional, entitlement and social relational approaches to property; distributional and other social aspects; and the relationship between property, culture, and democracy.

11.494 Cities of Contested Memory

Explores relationships between built environments and memory to consider the spaces and spatial practices in which the future of the past is imagined, negotiated, and contested. Focuses on three areas of critical importance to understanding the nature of memory in cities today: the threats that rapid urban development pose to the remembrance of urban pasts; the politics of representation evident in debates over authorized and marginalized historical narratives; and the art and ethics of sensitively addressing the afterlives of violence and tragedy. Emphasizes group discussions and projects as means to explore collective and counter memories, the communities that are formed therein, and the economic, social, and political forces that lift up certain memories over others to shape the legacy of the past. Limited to 15.

11.495 Governance and Law in Developing Countries

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-10 units

Examines the multiple dimensions of governance in international development with a focus on the role of legal norms and institutions in the balance between state and the market. Analyzes changes in the distribution of political and legal authority as a result of economic globalization. Topics include the regulation of firms; forms of state and non-state monitoring; varieties of capitalism, global governance and development; and good governance, including transparency and accountability mechanisms, the role of the judiciary and legal culture, and tools for measuring governance performance.

11.496 Law, Social Movements, and Public Policy: Comparative and International Experience

Subject meets with 11.166 Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

11.497 Human Rights at Home and Abroad

Subject meets with 11.164[J] , 17.391[J] Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Fall) 2-0-10 units

Provides a rigorous and critical introduction to the history, foundation, structure, and operation of the human rights movement. Focuses on key ideas, actors, methods and sources, and critically evaluates the field. Addresses current debates in human rights, including the relationship with security, democracy, development and globalization, urbanization, equality (in housing and other economic and social rights; women's rights; ethnic, religious and racial discrimination; and policing/conflict), post-conflict rebuilding and transitional justice, and technology in human rights activism. Students taking graduate version expected to write a research paper.

11.499 Master of Science in Real Estate Development Thesis Preparation

Prereq: None G (Spring; first half of term) 2-0-1 units

Designed to give students the tools and information needed to successfully complete a master's level thesis. Seminar topics include, but are not limited to: research data sets, different types and styles of theses, the writing and editing process, library services, and the use of humans as experimental subjects in research. CRE faculty share their areas of interest to assist in choosing an advisor. Seminar assignments guide students toward developing a thesis topic and realistic work plan to adequately achieve their research and writing goals. Objective is for each student to have sufficient knowledge to author a fully developed thesis topic and formal proposal by the end of the term. Limited to MS in Real Estate Development candidates.

11.520 Workshop on Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Prereq: 11.205 or permission of instructor G (Fall, Spring; second half of term) 2-2-2 units

Includes spatial analysis exercises using real-world data sets, building toward an independent project in which students critically apply GIS techniques to an area of interest. Students build data discovery, cartography, and spatial analysis skills while learning to reflect on power and positionality within the research design process. Tailored to GIS applications within planning and design and emphasizes the role of reflective practice in GIS. Enrollment limited; preference to MCP students.

11.521 Spatial Database Management and Advanced Geographic Information Systems

Prereq: 11.205 and Coreq: 11.220 ; or permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-3-6 units

Extends the computing and geographic information systems (GIS) skills developed in 11.520 to include spatial data management in client/server environments and advanced GIS techniques. First half covers the content of 11.523 , introducing database management concepts, SQL (Structured Query Language), and enterprise-class database management software. Second half explores advanced features and the customization features of GIS software that perform analyses for decision support that go beyond basic thematic mapping. Includes the half-term GIS project of 11.524 that studies a real-world planning issue.

J. Ferreira

11.522 Research Seminar on Urban Information Systems

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-4-6 units Can be repeated for credit.

Advanced research seminar enhances computer and analytic skills developed in other subjects in this sequence. Students present a structured discussion of journal articles representative of their current research interests involving urban information systems and complete a short research project. Suggested research projects include topics related to ongoing UIS Group research.

11.523 Fundamentals of Spatial Database Management

Prereq: 11.205 or permission of instructor G (Fall; first half of term) 2-2-2 units

Develops technical skills necessary to design, build, and interact with spatial databases using the Structured Query Language (SQL) and its spatial extensions. Provides instruction in writing highly contextual metadata (data biographies). Prepares students to perform database maintenance, modeling, and digitizing tasks, and to critically evaluate and document data sources. Databases are implemented in PostgreSQL and PostGIS; students interface with these using QGIS.

E. Huntley 

11.524 Advanced Geographic Information System Project

Prereq: ( 11.205 and 11.220 ) or permission of instructor G (Fall; second half of term) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

Provides instruction in statistical approaches for analyzing interrelation, clustering, and interdependence, which are often key to understanding urban environments. Covers local and global spatial autocorrelation, interpolation, and kernel density methods; cluster detection; and spatial regression models. Develops technical skills necessary to ask spatial questions using inferential statistics implemented in the R statistical computing language. Prior coursework or experience in geographic information systems (GIS) at the introductory level required; prior coursework or experience in R is preferred.

11.526[J] Comparative Land Use and Transportation Planning

Same subject as 1.251[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Focuses on the integration of land use and transportation planning, drawing from cases in both industrialized and developing countries. Highlights how land use and transportation influence the social organization of cities, assigning privileges to certain groups and segregating or negating access to the city to other groups. Covers topics such as accessibility; the use of data, algorithms, and bias; travel demand and travel behavior; governance; transit-oriented development; autonomous vehicles; transportation and real estate; and social, environmental, and health implications of land use and transportation. Develops students' skills to assess relevant policies, interventions, and impacts.

11.529[J] Mobility Ventures: Driving Innovation in Transportation Systems

Same subject as 15.379[J] Subject meets with 11.029[J] , 15.3791[J] Prereq: None G (Fall) 3-3-6 units

Explores technological, behavioral, policy, and systems-wide frameworks for innovation in transportation systems, complemented with case studies across the mobility spectrum, from autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility to last-mile sidewalk robots. Students interact with a series of guest lecturers from CEOs and other business and government executives who are actively reshaping the future of mobility. Interdisciplinary teams of students collaborate to deliver business plans for proposed mobility-focused startups with an emphasis on primary market research. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

11.540 Urban Transportation Planning and Policy

Examines transportation policymaking and planning; its relationship to social and environmental justice; and the influences of politics, governance structures, and human and institutional behavior. Explores the pathway to infrastructure, how attitudes are influenced, and how change happens. Examines the tensions and potential synergies among traditional transportation policy values of individual mobility, system efficiency, and "sustainability." Explores the roles of the government; analysis of current trends; transport sector decarbonization; land use, placemaking, and sustainable mobility networks; the role of "mobility as a service;" and the implications of disruptive technology on personal mobility. Assesses traditional planning methods with a critical eye, and through that process considers how to approach transportation planning in a way that responds to contemporary needs and values, with an emphasis on transport justice.

11.543[J] Transportation Policy, the Environment, and Livable Communities

Same subject as 1.253[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Examines the economic and political conflict between transportation and the environment. Investigates the role of government regulation, green business and transportation policy as a facilitator of economic development and environmental sustainability. Analyzes a variety of international policy problems, including government-business relations, the role of interest groups, non-governmental organizations, and the public and media in the regulation of the automobile; sustainable development; global warming; politics of risk and siting of transport facilities; environmental justice; equity; as well as transportation and public health in the urban metropolis. Provides students with an opportunity to apply transportation and planning methods to develop policy alternatives in the context of environmental politics. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

J. Coughlin

11.544[J] Transportation: Foundations and Methods

Same subject as 1.200[J] , IDS.675[J] Subject meets with 1.041[J] , IDS.075[J] Prereq: 1.000 , ( 1.00 and 1.010 ), or permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-1-8 units

See description under subject 1.200[J] .

11.547[J] Global Aging & the Built Environment

Same subject as SCM.287[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Combines classroom lectures/discussion, readings, site visits, and field study to provide students with experience in various research techniques including stakeholder analysis, interviewing, photography and image analysis, focus groups, etc. Students examine the impacts of global demographic transition, when there are more older than younger people in a population, and explore emerging challenges in the built environment (e.g., age-friendly community planning, public transportation access, acceptance of driverless cars, social wellbeing and connectivity, housing and community design, design and use of public and private spaces, and the public health implications of climate change and aging).

J. F. Coughlin

11.592 Renewable Energy Facility Siting Clinic (New)

Subject meets with 11.092 Prereq: None G (Fall, Spring) 2-4-6 units

11.601 Theory and Practice of Environmental Planning

Required introductory subject for graduate students pursuing the Environmental Planning Certificate. Strongly suggested for MCP students pursuing EPP as their specialization. Also open to other graduate students interested in environmental justice, environmental ethics, environmental dispute resolution, and techniques of environmental problem-solving. Taught comparatively, with numerous references to examples from around the world. Four major areas of focus: national environmental policymaking, environmental ethics, environmental forecasting and analysis techniques, and strategies for collaborative decision-making. 

11.630[J] Environmental Law, Policy, and Economics: Pollution Prevention and Control

Same subject as 1.811[J] , 15.663[J] , IDS.540[J] Subject meets with 1.801[J] , 11.021[J] , 17.393[J] , IDS.060[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

11.631[J] Regulation of Chemicals, Radiation, and Biotechnology

Same subject as 1.812[J] , IDS.541[J] Subject meets with 1.802[J] , 10.805[J] , 11.022[J] , IDS.061[J] , IDS.436[J] Prereq: IDS.540[J] or permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Focuses on policy design and evaluation in the regulation of hazardous substances and processes. Includes risk assessment, industrial chemicals, pesticides, food contaminants, pharmaceuticals, radiation and radioactive wastes, product safety, workplace hazards, indoor air pollution, biotechnology, victims' compensation, and administrative law. Health and economic consequences of regulation, as well as its potential to spur technological change, are discussed for each regulator regime. Students taking the graduate version are expected to explore the subject in greater depth.

N. Ashford, C.Caldart

11.651[J] USA Lab: Bridging the American Divides

Same subject as 15.679[J] Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-1-5 units

See description under subject 15.679[J] .

L. Hafrey, C. McDowell

11.652[J] Research Seminar on Technology and the Work of the Future

Same subject as STS.465[J] Prereq: None Acad Year 2023-2024: Not offered Acad Year 2024-2025: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

See description under subject STS.465[J] . Limited to 15.

D. Mindell, E. B. Reynolds

11.701 International Development Planning: Foundations

Offers a survey of the histories and theories of international development, and the main debates about the role of key actors and institutions in development. Includes a focus on the impact of colonialism, the main theoretical approaches that have influenced the study and practice of development, as well as the role of actors such as states, markets, and civil society in development. Focuses on the interactions between interventions and institutions on local, national, and global/transnational scales. Offers an opportunity to develop a focus on selected current topics in development planning, such as migration, displacement, participatory planning, urban-rural linkages, corruption, legal institutions, and post-conflict development. Restricted to first-year MCP and SPURS students.

Tutorials, Research, and Fieldwork Subjects

11.800 reading, writing and research.

Prereq: 11.233 ; Coreq: 11.801 G (Spring) 3-0-6 units

Required subject intended solely for 1st-year DUSP PhD students. Develops capacity of doctoral students to become independent scholars by helping them to prepare their first-year papers and plan for their dissertation work. Focuses on the process by which theory, research questions, literature reviews, and new data are synthesized into new and original contributions to the literature. Seminar is conducted with intensive discussions, draft writing, peer review, revisions, and editing. Guest speakers from faculty and advanced students discuss strategies and potential pitfalls with doctoral-level research.

11.801 Doctoral Research Paper

Prereq: None. Coreq: 11.800 ; permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-6 units

Students develop a first-year research paper in consultation with their advisor.

11.901 Independent Study: Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, IAP, Spring) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

Opportunity for independent study under regular supervision by a faculty member.

11.902 Independent Study: Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, IAP, Spring) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

11.903 Supervised Readings in Urban Studies

11.904 supervised readings in urban studies.

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, Spring, Summer) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.905 Research Seminar in Urban Studies and Planning

Special research issues in urban planning.

11.906 Research Seminar in Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: None G (Fall, IAP, Spring) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

11.907 Urban Fieldwork

Practical application of planning techniques to towns, cities, and regions, including problems of replanning, redevelopment, and renewal of existing communities. Includes internships, under staff supervision, in municipal and state agencies and departments.

11.908 Urban Fieldwork

Prereq: None G (Fall, IAP, Spring) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.909 Graduate Tutorial

Prereq: None G (Fall) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

Planned programs of instruction for a minimum of three students on a planning topic not covered in regular subjects of instruction. Registration subject to prior arrangement with appropriate faculty member.

11.910 Doctoral Tutorial

Prereq: None G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-3 units

Required subject exclusively for first-year DUSP PhD candidates, but with multiple colloquium sessions open to the full department community. Introduces students to a range of department faculty (and others) by offering opportunities to discuss applications of planning theory and planning history. Assists in clarifying the departments intellectual diversity. Encourages development of a personal intellectual voice and capacity to synthesize and respond to the arguments made by others.

L. Vale, J. Zhao

11.912[J] Advanced Urbanism Colloquium

Same subject as 4.275[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, Spring) 1-1-1 units Can be repeated for credit.

See description under subject 4.275[J] . Preference to doctoral students in the Advanced Urbanism concentration.

Consult S. Williams

11.919 PhD Workshop (New)

Prereq: None G (Fall, Spring) 0-1-0 units Can be repeated for credit.

The workshop features doctoral student progress on dissertation formulation and findings across all years, panels of particular interest to doctoral students as identified by their representatives on the PhD Committee, and an intellectual space for the sharing of ideas and initiatives within the doctoral community and across the department, including faculty.  Limited to all doctoral students in residence.

11.920 Planning in Practice

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

Familiarizes students with the practice of planning, by requiring actual experience in professional internship placements. Enables students to both apply what they are learning in their classes in an actual professional setting and to reflect, using a variety of platforms, on the learning -- personal and professional -- growing out of their internship experience. Through readings, practical experience and reflection, empirical observation, and contact with practitioners, students gain deeper general understanding of the practice of the profession.

11.930 Advanced Seminar on Planning Theory

Prereq: None G (Spring) 2-0-10 units

Introduces students to key debates in the field of planning theory, drawing on historical development of the field of urban/regional/national planning from 1900 to 2020 in both the US and in newly industrializing countries. Class objectives are for students to develop their own theory of action as they become sensitized to issues of racial and gender discrimination in city building, and understand how planning styles are influenced by a range of issues, including the challenge of ethical practice.

11.960 Independent Study: Real Estate

Prereq: None G (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

11.961 Independent Study: Real Estate

Prereq: None G (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.962 Fieldwork: Real Estate

Practical application of real estate techniques in the field.

11.963 Independent Study: Real Estate

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.964 Independent Study: Real Estate

11.985 summer field work.

Prereq: None G (Summer) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

Practical application of planning techniques over the summer with prior arrangement.

S. Wellford

11.S938 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: None G (Spring) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

For graduate students wishing to pursue further study in advanced areas of urban studies and planning not covered in regular subjects of instruction.

11.S939 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

For graduate students wishing to pursue further study in advanced areas of urban studies and city and regional planning not covered in regular subjects of instruction.

11.S940-11.S944 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, Spring) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.S948 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.S945-11.S949 Special Subject: Urban Studies and Planning

11.s950-11.s957 special seminar: urban studies and planning.

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, IAP) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

For graduate students wishing to pursue further study in advanced areas of urban studies and city and regional planning not covered in regular subjects of instruction

11.S958 Special Seminar: Urban Studies and Planning

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

11.S959 Special Seminar: Urban Studies and Planning

11.s965 special subject: real estate.

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall; second half of term) Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

Small group study of advanced subjects under staff supervision. For graduate students wishing to pursue further study in advanced areas of real estate not covered in regular subjects of instruction.

11.S966 Special Subject: Real Estate

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer; second half of term) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.S967 Special Subject: Real Estate

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring; first half of term) Not offered regularly; consult department Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

11.S968 Special Seminar: Real Estate

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department Units arranged [P/D/F] Can be repeated for credit.

11.S969 Special Seminar: Real Estate

11.s970 special seminar: real estate.

Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring; second half of term) Units arranged Can be repeated for credit.

Consult Catalog Faculty

11.THG Graduate Thesis

Program of research and writing of thesis; to be arranged by the student with supervising committee.

Print this page.

The PDF includes all information on this page and its related tabs. Subject (course) information includes any changes approved for the current academic year.

• Who’s Teaching What
• Subject Updates
• MEng program
• Opportunities
• Minor in Computer Science
• Resources for Current Students
• Program objectives and accreditation
• Graduate program requirements
• Admission process
• Degree programs
• Graduate research
• EECS Graduate Funding
• Resources for current students
• Student profiles
• Instructors
• DEI data and documents
• Recruitment and outreach
• Community and resources
• Get involved / self-education
• Rising Stars in EECS
• Graduate Application Assistance Program (GAAP)
• MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP)
• Sloan-MIT University Center for Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM)
• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence + Decision-making
• AI and Society
• AI for Healthcare and Life Sciences
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
• Biological and Medical Devices and Systems
• Communications Systems
• Computational Biology
• Computational Fabrication and Manufacturing
• Computer Architecture
• Educational Technology
• Electronic, Magnetic, Optical and Quantum Materials and Devices
• Graphics and Vision
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Information Science and Systems
• Integrated Circuits and Systems
• Nanoscale Materials, Devices, and Systems
• Natural Language and Speech Processing
• Optics + Photonics
• Optimization and Game Theory
• Programming Languages and Software Engineering
• Quantum Computing, Communication, and Sensing
• Security and Cryptography
• Signal Processing
• Systems and Networking
• Systems Theory, Control, and Autonomy
• Theory of Computation
• Departmental History
• Departmental Organization
• Visiting Committee
• Explore all research areas

We design the next generation of computer systems. Working at the intersection of hardware and software, our research studies how to best implement computation in the physical world. We design processors that are faster, more efficient, easier to program, and secure. Our research covers systems of all scales, from tiny Internet-of-Things devices with ultra-low-power consumption to high-performance servers and datacenters that power planet-scale online services. We design both general-purpose processors and accelerators that are specialized to particular application domains, like machine learning and storage. We also design Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools to facilitate the development of such systems.

Advances in computer architecture create quantum leaps in the capabilities of computers, enabling new applications and driving the creation of entirely new classes of computer systems. For example, deep learning, which has transformed many areas of computer science, was made practical by hardware accelerators (initially GPUs and later more specialized designs); and advances in computer performance have also made self-driving cars and autonomous drones possible.

Computer architecture spans many layers of the hardware and software stack, and as a result we collaborate with researchers in many other areas. For example, several of our current projects focus on the design of domain-specific architectures, and involve researchers in programming languages and compilers to ensure that our systems are broadly useful, as well as domain experts. In addition, the waning of Moore’s Law is making emerging technologies, like CN-FETs, photonics, or resistive memories, an attractive way to implement computation, sparking collaborations with experts in these areas.

Latest news in computer architecture

Department of eecs announces 2024 promotions.

The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) is proud to announce multiple promotions.

EECS Alliance Roundup: 2023

Founded in 2019, The EECS Alliance program connects industry leading companies with EECS students for internships, post graduate employment, networking, and collaborations.  In 2023, it has grown to include over 30 organizations that have either joined the Alliance or participate in its flagship program, 6A.

2023-24 EECS Faculty Award Roundup

This ongoing listing of awards and recognitions won by our faculty is added to all year, beginning in September.

Department of EECS announces 2023 promotions

The department is proud to announce multiple promotions this year.

Recent chair announcements within EECS

The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) recently announced the following crop of chair appointments, all effective July 1, 2022. Karl Berggren has been named the …

Upcoming events

Fireside chat with angel investor helen he, doctoral thesis: enhancing online collaborative learning: designs for effective in-situ discussion and engagement in large-scale learning environments., adriaan campo – exploring kinematic parameters in music education and performance: towards real-time feedback and motor learning assessment, doctoral thesis:  advancing equity & reliability in machine learnring, doctoral thesis: data-efficient machine learning for computational imagingdoctoral thesis:, doctoral thesis: automated interpretation of machine learning models.

• Career Paths
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• DMSE Job Opportunities
• Our Faculty
• Computing and Data Science
• Energy and the Environment
• Health and Medicine
• Manufacturing
• Transportation and Infrastructure
• Archaeological Materials
• Semiconductors
• Soft Matter
• Characterization
• Computation and Design
• Device Fabrication
• Synthesis and Processing
• Impact Stories
• Research Facilities
• Majors, Minors, and Concentration
• Opportunities For First-Year Students
• Opportunities for DMSE Undergraduates
• DMSE Breakerspace
• Wulff Lecture
• Application Assistance and Resources
• Doctoral Degree and Requirements
• Master’s Degree and Requirements
• Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs
• Funding Opportunities
• Postdoctoral Program
• MITx Online
• Newsletter Archive
• FORGE Initiative

QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2024

QS World University Rankings has placed MIT in the No. 1 spot in 11 subject areas for 2024, the organization announced today. The Institute received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas: Chemical Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Computer Science and Information Systems; Data Science and Artificial Intelligence; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Linguistics; Materials Science; Mechanical, Aeronautical, and Manufacturing Engineering; Mathematics; Physics and Astronomy; and Statistics and Operational Research. MIT also placed second in five subject areas: Accounting and Finance; Architecture/Built Environment; Biological Sciences; Chemistry; and Economics and Econometrics. For 2024, universities were evaluated in 55 specific subjects and five broader subject areas. MIT was ranked No. 1 in the broader subject area of Engineering and Technology and No. 2 in Natural Sciences. Quacquarelli Symonds Limited subject rankings, published annually, are designed to help prospective students find the leading schools in their field of interest. Rankings are based on research quality and accomplishments, academic reputation, and graduate employment. MIT has been ranked as the No. 1 university in the world by QS World University Rankings for 12 straight years.

• DACA/Undocumented
• First Generation, Low Income
• International Students
• Students of Color
• Students with disabilities
• Undergraduate Students
• Master’s Students
• PhD Students
• Faculty/Staff
• Family/Supporters
• Career Fairs
• Post Jobs, Internships, Fellowships
• Build your Brand at MIT
• Recruiting Guidelines and Resources
• Connect with Us
• Career Advising
• Distinguished Fellowships
• Employer Relations
• Graduate Student Professional Development
• Prehealth Advising
• Student Leadership Opportunities
• Academia & Education
• Architecture, Planning, & Design
• Arts, Communications, & Media
• Business, Finance, & Fintech
• Computing & Computer Technology
• Data Science
• Energy, Environment, & Sustainability
• Life Sciences, Biotech, & Pharma
• Manufacturing & Transportation
• Health & Medical Professions
• Social Impact, Policy, & Law
• Getting Started & Handshake 101
• Exploring careers
• Networking & Informational Interviews
• Connecting with employers
• Resumes, cover letters, portfolios, & CVs
• Finding a Job or Internship
• Post-Graduate and Summer Outcomes
• Professional Development Competencies
• Preparing for Graduate & Professional Schools
• Preparing for Medical / Health Profession Schools
• Interviewing
• New jobs & career transitions
• Career Prep and Development Programs
• Employer Events
• Outside Events for Career and Professional Development
• Events Calendar
• Career Services Workshop Requests
• Early Career Advisory Board
• Peer Career Advisors
• Student Staff
• Mission, Vision, Values and Diversity Commitments
• News and Reports

A successful inaugural year for CAPD Graduate Student Professional Development’s certificate programs

• Share This: Share A successful inaugural year for CAPD Graduate Student Professional Development’s certificate programs on Facebook Share A successful inaugural year for CAPD Graduate Student Professional Development’s certificate programs on LinkedIn Share A successful inaugural year for CAPD Graduate Student Professional Development’s certificate programs on X

This spring, over 150 doctoral students and postdocs successfully completed CAPD’s new professional development certificate program . Two certificates—one in research mentoring and the other in grant writing—were launched last fall to help PhD students and postdocs advance their growth in these essential areas. Participants attended a series of workshops throughout the 2023-24 academic year to fulfill the certificate programs’ requirements.

As reflected by the application numbers, the programs’ launch received an enthusiastic response. The Research Mentoring Certificate attracted 245 applicants, of which 75 participants, representing a mix of PhD students and postdocs, were selected. The cohort attended workshops designed to teach mentoring skills such as maintaining effective communication, aligning expectations, addressing equity and inclusion, and assessing understanding. Each session was led by a facilitator trained by the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER).

For the Grant Writing Training Certificate, which was co-funded by Postdoctoral Services, 325 doctoral students and postdocs applied and 100 were accepted. Participants were required to attend three intensive workshops that delved into critical aspects of writing and submitting scientific grant proposals for the NSF, NIH, and other agencies.

The first workshop featured a faculty panel, moderated by Vivian Siegel, lecturer in the Department of Biology, which introduced the grant writing landscape. Professors Anna Frebel (Physics), John Gabrieli (Brain and Cognitive Sciences), and Chris Kaiser (Biology), along with Research Administration Services’ Vivian Holmes, offered insights based on their professional experiences.

The second session, led by outside facilitator Dr. John Robertson, was an all-day deep dive into the art and practice of writing winning grant proposals. The third session, entitled “The Nuts and Bolts of the Research Funding Machine,” was led by MIT Research Administration Services and discussed the internal process for federal grant submissions. Participants also had the option of attending a fourth workshop, helmed by outside facilitator Dr. Beth Schachter, focused exclusively on NIH K grants for postdocs and F grants for graduate students.

Survey responses demonstrated that the programs achieved Graduate Student Professional Development’s goal of helping PhD students and postdocs learn valuable skills that are not typically included in their training. A participant in the Research Mentoring Certificate program wrote, “Thank you for organizing this! [It] should be mandatory for all mentors — it really was so helpful!” Responses to sessions of the Grant Writing Certificate program included, “Best grant writing workshop I ever attended,” “This was extremely helpful for many levels of grant writers,” and “I gained a lot of confidence in my ability to write a successful grant application.”

Based on the success of the first year of the program, CAPD looks forward to continuing with these offerings and expanding them to include certificates for other vital skill sets. Ultimately, these efforts will support the Institute-wide focus on developing graduate student professional development, an area of emphasis in the Institute’s Task Force 2021 report.

Suggestions or feedback?

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Machine learning
• Social justice
• Black holes
• Classes and programs

Departments

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Architecture
• Political Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Centers, Labs, & Programs

• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
• Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
• Lincoln Laboratory
• School of Architecture + Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• Sloan School of Management
• School of Science
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

A crossroads for computing at MIT

Press contact :.

Previous image Next image

On Vassar Street, in the heart of MIT’s campus, the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing recently opened the doors to its new headquarters in Building 45. The building’s central location and welcoming design will help form a new cluster of connectivity at MIT and enable the space to have a multifaceted role. 

“The college has a broad mandate for computing across MIT,” says Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the Henry Ellis Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “The building is designed to be the computing crossroads of the campus. It’s a place to bring a mix of people together to connect, engage, and catalyze collaborations in computing, and a home to a related set of computing research groups from multiple departments and labs.”

“Computing is the defining technology of our time and it will continue to be, well into the future,” says MIT President Sally Kornbluth. “As the people of MIT make progress in high-impact fields from AI to climate, this fantastic new building will enable collaboration across computing, engineering, biological science, economics, and countless other fields, encouraging the cross-pollination of ideas that inspires us to generate fresh solutions. The college has opened its doors at just the right time.”

A physical embodiment

An approximately 178,000 square foot eight-floor structure, the building is designed to be a physical embodiment of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing’s three-fold mission: strengthen core computer science and artificial intelligence; infuse the forefront of computing with disciplines across MIT; and advance social, ethical, and policy dimensions of computing.

Oriented for the campus community and the public to come in and engage with the college, the first two floors of the building encompass multiple convening areas, including a 60-seat classroom, a 250-seat lecture hall, and an assortment of spaces for studying and social interactions.

Academic activity has commenced in both the lecture hall and classroom this semester with 13 classes for undergraduate and graduate students. Subjects include 6.C35/6.C85 (Interactive Data Visualization and Society), a class taught by faculty from the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Urban Studies and Planning. The class was created as part of the Common Ground for Computing Education , a cross-cutting initiative of the college that brings multiple departments together to develop and teach new courses and launch new programs that blend computing with other disciplines.

“The new college building is catering not only to educational and research needs, but also fostering extensive community connections. It has been particularly exciting to see faculty teaching classes in the building and the lobby bustling with students on any given day, engrossed in their studies or just enjoying the space while taking a break,” says Asu Ozdaglar, deputy dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and head of EECS.

The building will also accommodate 50 computing research groups, which correspond to the number of new faculty the college is hiring — 25 in core computing positions and 25 in shared positions with departments at MIT. These groups bring together a mix of new and existing teams in related research areas spanning floors four through seven of the building.

In mid-January, the initial two dozen research groups moved into the building, including faculty from the departments of EECS; Aeronautics and Astronautics; Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Mechanical Engineering; and Economics who are affiliated with the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. The research groups form a coherent overall cluster in deep learning and generative AI, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, reinforcement learning, game theoretic methods, and societal impact of AI.

More will follow suit, including some of the 10 faculty who have been hired into shared positions by the college with the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Chemical Engineering; Comparative Media Studies and Writing; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; Music and Theater Arts; Mechanical Engineering; Nuclear Science and Engineering; Political Science; and the MIT Sloan School of Management.

“I eagerly anticipate the building's expansion of opportunities, facilitating the development of even deeper connections the college has made so far spanning all five schools," says Anantha Chandrakasan, chief innovation and strategy officer, dean of the School of Engineering, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Other college programs and activities that are being supported in the building include the MIT Quest for Intelligence, Center for Computational Science and Engineering, and MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. There are also dedicated areas for the dean’s office, as well as for the cross-cutting areas of the college — the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing , Common Ground, and Special Semester Topics in Computing, a new experimental program designed to bring MIT researchers and visitors together in a common space for a semester around areas of interest.

Additional spaces include conference rooms on the third floor that are available for use by any college unit. These rooms are accessible to both residents and nonresidents of the building to host weekly group meetings or other computing-related activities.

For the MIT community at large, the building’s main event space, along with three conference rooms, is available for meetings, events, and conferences. Located eight stories high on the top floor with striking views across Cambridge and Boston and of the Great Dome, the event space is already in demand with bookings through next fall, and has quickly become a popular destination on campus.

The college inaugurated the event space over the January Independent Activities Period, welcoming students, faculty, and visitors to the building for Expanding Horizons in Computing — a weeklong series of bootcamps, workshops, short talks, panels, and roundtable discussions. Organized by various MIT faculty, the 12 sessions in the series delved into exciting areas of computing and AI, with topics ranging from security, intelligence, and deep learning to design, sustainability, and policy.

Form and function

Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the state-of-the-art space for education, research, and collaboration took shape over four years of design and construction.

“In the design of a new multifunctional building like this, I view my job as the dean being to make sure that the building fulfills the functional needs of the college mission,” says Huttenlocher. “I think what has been most rewarding for me, now that the building is finished, is to see its form supporting its wide range of intended functions.”

In keeping with MIT’s commitment to environmental sustainability, the building is designed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. The final review with the U.S. Green Building Council is tracking toward a Platinum certification.

The glass shingles on the building’s south-facing side serve a dual purpose in that they allow abundant natural light in and form a double-skin façade constructed of interlocking units that create a deep sealed cavity, which is anticipated to notably lower energy consumption.

Other sustainability features include embodied carbon tracking, on-site stormwater management, fixtures that reduce indoor potable water usage, and a large green roof. The building is also the first to utilize heat from a newly completed utilities plant built on top of Building 42, which converted conventional steam-based distributed systems into more efficient hot-water systems. This conversion significantly enhances the building’s capacity to deliver more efficient medium-temperature hot water across the entire facility.

Grand unveiling

A dedication ceremony for the building is planned for the spring.

The momentous event will mark the official completion and opening of the new building and celebrate the culmination of hard work, commitment, and collaboration in bringing it to fruition.

It will also celebrate the 2018 foundational gift that established the college from Stephen A. Schwarzman, the chair, CEO, and co-founder of Blackstone, the global asset management and financial services firm. In addition, it will acknowledge Sebastian Man ’79, SM ’80, the first donor to support the building after Schwarzman. Man’s gift will be recognized with the naming of a key space in the building that will enrich the academic and research activities of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the Institute.

Share this news article on:

Related links, related topics.

• Campus buildings and architecture
• School of Architecture and Planning
• School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences
• MIT Sloan School of Management
• Aeronautical and astronautical engineering
• Brain and cognitive sciences
• Chemical engineering
• Comparative Media Studies/Writing
• Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs)
• Music and theater arts
• Nuclear science and engineering
• Political science
• Urban studies and planning
• Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)
• Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS)
• MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab
• Quest for Intelligence
• Administration
• Education, teaching, academics
• Cambridge, Boston and region
• Computer science and technology
• Artificial intelligence
• Technology and society

Related Articles

Design progresses for MIT Schwarzman College of Computing building on Vassar Street

Building site identified for MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing

FAQ on the newly established MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing

Previous item Next item

More MIT News

A biomedical engineer pivots from human movement to women’s health

Read full story →

MIT tops among single-campus universities in US patents granted

A new way to detect radiation involving cheap ceramics

Growing our donated organ supply

New AI method captures uncertainty in medical images

Improving drug development with a vast map of the immune system

• More news on MIT News homepage →

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA

• Map (opens in new window)
• Events (opens in new window)
• People (opens in new window)
• Careers (opens in new window)
• Accessibility
• Social Media Hub
• MIT on Facebook
• MIT on YouTube
• MIT on Instagram